Laugh
by Quierta Riddler
Summary: Sequel to 'Purr.' The adventures of Gajeel and his life with a real family.
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters are owned by Hiro Mashima._

_Author's Note: This story is a continuation from my first GaLe fic, "Purr." It takes place several years after the events in Purr, as you'll be able to see!  
_

_This first chapter is just the epilogue of Purr - so if you have already read the Purr story, you don't need to read this one and you can go right to Chapter 2. You should be able to read this story without having read Purr since none of the events really rely on Purr!  
_

_**This story focuses on Gajeel's relationship with his family; mainly his daughter.** Levy does appear and there are some GaLe moments, so look out for those!  
_

_**These events are NOT chronological.** I'm going to be skipping around a lot; one chapter does not necessarily lead into the next (but some might; Part 1, Part 2, etc.). These stories take place in the same universe, though, so this is the same Gajeel and Levy from in Purr throughout this story!  
_

_Either way, please enjoy!  
_

* * *

_Prologue: THE PRETTIEST DADDY_

* * *

"Daddy? What's in here?"

They were the tiniest little fingers Gajeel had ever seen; and they were prodding at his bicep, feeling the muscle underneath and trying to figure out how on earth they were so hard.

"Those're muscles, Peanut."

Levy might scold him later for calling her that; his lover had long since gotten used to being called Shrimp, and she hardly noticed that he did it any more – but she didn't want her daughter growing up to be confused, thinking her name was actually Peanut! She supposed, though, that it was better than what Gajeel WANTED to call her. When choosing baby names he'd fought very hard for Crunk, Chomper, or Metalloid. They went with something prettier.

"Muscles?" Lilia pressed her ear against his arm, giving it a little squeeze with her tiny fingertips, "Do they talk?"

"No," he grinned, pulling his arm away from her and holding it up, "Now watch close, Peanut!"

"Ok, daddy!" she plopped herself back down on his lap, straddling one thigh and opening her amazed eyes to look at his arm.

Gajeel gave the bicep his best flex, increasing its size by two times at least, and bulging a vein or two.

He almost went teary-eyed at the look on his little girl's face as she took the softest gasp and spread her mouth open wide, "Wooowwww..."

"Gihi!" he giggled, giving his other bicep a flex for her and alternating between the two.

"DADDY IS THE COOLEST DADDY!" Lilia screamed, grabbing the sides of her face and flopping back, almost toppling right over Gajeel's knees.

Gajeel caught her with one hand, pulling her by the front of her shirt back onto his thighs, which were both about the size of her entire body.

"Mmmhh," Lilia looked thoughtful, reaching her hands out and starting to prod at his abdomen, "Daddy is bumpy all over!"

"Those're muscles, too," he grinned, "I have them all over."

"Daddy...?"

"Ehh?"

"Did you draw on yourself?" her voice got a little softer, starting to touch at the little marks adorning his entire bare torso.

"Nope! Those are scars, Peanut."

"Scars? Do I have scars, too?"

"Nah," he grinned, "Not yet! And not if your mum has anything to say about it," he rubbed the side of his face, wondering what Levy might do if the Peanut got hurt seriously enough to scar. She might kill Gajeel, even if he had nothing to do with it!

She was a very good mother, though, even if she was overprotective sometimes. Then again, Gajeel was overprotective too – over the both of them.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah, Peanut?"

"Can I color them in?"

"Eh!?"

"With my paints?"

"Ehhh..."

Lilia's bottom lip jutted out almost three inches away from her face, wavering up and down as her eyes watered and she gave the tiniest, meekest squeak.

"... Alright, Peanut!"

Gajeel was glad that Levy was off on a mission with her friends for the next few days, because the little Peanut was fixing to make him the prettiest daddy in all of Fiore.


	2. The Beginning: It's Time!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

It was time.

"I GOT THE BAG!" Gajeel growled, reaching for the brown satchel that had everything they'd need. Some overnight clothes for Levy, her favorite kinds of snacks just in case the hospital food sucked (which it probably would), and a brush to make her look pretty after the labor. It had everything but books, because it was Lily's job to bring the Book Bag to the hospital. Since it was three times larger than the emergency satchel.

"Gajeel," Lily sighed, stepping in front of the panicked dragon slayer and raising a tiny paw, "Please calm down, i-"

Gajeel reeled his leg back and punted his cat through the front window; the cat really should know by then that his full form was a more effective road block.

Without the cat to interfere, he grabbed his wife, threw her over his shoulder, and sprinted out the front door with his woman and his satchel in tow. He'd be damned if he let anyone get in his way now because, damnit,

it was time.

* * *

"It's nice to see you again, Mr. Redfox," the doctor sounded just a little annoyed, opening the door to the exam room and lifting his glasses higher onto his nose to read the notes on his clipboard.

"THEY'RE TEN SECONDS APART!" the dragon grabbed the doctor and gave him a hard shake, "TEN SECONDS!"

"What are ten seconds apart, Mr. Redfox?"

"Hic!" Levy squeaked and pressed a hand to her mouth to stifle herself. "Hello, doctor!"

"Mrs. Redfox," the doctor gave her a little smile, brushing away the dragon slayer.

"Those vitamins you gave me are giving me the hiccu- HIC!"

"SEE!?" Gajeel lifted the doctor by his arms and hoisted him right in front of Levy, pointing under her dress, "GET TO WORK!"

"Hiccups are not a sign of labor, Mr. Redfox," he sighed and fixed his glasses, "I'm going to explain this just once more. The baby will not be here for another eight months. I told you this yesterday, all three times, and I explained it to you when I saw you a week ago – when I first told you that you were pregnant. Eight months, Mr. Redfox."

"Don't tell me that, I KNOW MY WOMAN!"

"I'm really sorry about this, doctor," Levy started climbing down from the spread table on which her husband had deposited her, "We'll try to be more proactive next time!" 'We' being Levy and Lily, and 'proactive' being to use those special tranquilizing pills that the doctor had provided.

"I'm sure you tried your best, Mrs. Redfox. How is Pantherlily doing?"

"Oh, well," Levy rubbed the back of her head, looking embarrassed, "Gajeel got him real good this time, but I'm sure he'll be fine. Lily doesn't mind." Not that he liked getting punted, but he was used to it by that time. "We gave him the option to move out – at least temporarily – but he says he'd rather stay there for us. So I guess he's okay with it!"

"That's good; you'll send him over, I hope, if it gets too bad."

"Of course!" Levy reached for Gajeel's hand, hugging him tightly against her, "We're going to go now, and we WON'T be coming back until our actual appointment; right, Gajeel?"

"..." he started muttering about 'stupid pregnant woman,' 'ignorant doctor' and 'the cat has wings, anyways.'

"Gajeel!"

"That's right," he lied, wrapping his arm around Levy's shoulders.

Before the eight months were up, the hospital and its attendants kept a running tally of how many times Gajeel ran in with false alarms; but they stopped keeping count after the third notebook.

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_Do people like these kinds of stories? I'm not sure. If you like this one and want me to continue, please let me know! I can't make it huge like my other story (45 chapters? Insane!) but right now I have about 10 chapters of this and I'm not really pressed to continue._


	3. It's Really Time - Part 1

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

_Author's Note: Just a warning, I get a little bit into the birth in the second half of this chapter. It's really not all that detailed at all and I don't mention any oogly bits, just a warning XD  
_

* * *

"Are you comfortable, Mrs. Redfox?"

"I'm just fine!" Levy smiled, laying back against the sea of pillows that Gajeel had provided for her. She wondered how many pregnant women were going without pillows, just because of her... "It won't be for another few hours, right?"

"That's right," she certainly did her research well, "So I'll come back and forth between the other rooms to check on you. Is that okay?"

"That's fine, doctor," Levy turned her attention back down to the book she'd been reading. It was a little awkward with her legs spread and nurses running in and out of the room, but at least the pain had stopped. And to think, Gajeel only needed to beat up three people before they'd provide her with the pain medication! They were going to give it to her, anyways, but Gajeel thought that 'ten minutes' was a little too long for his sweet little woman to wait. "If anything happens, I'm sure Gajeel will come get you."

"... Right," the doctor looked less than pleased. He'd dealt with many demanding husbands, but it was always more difficult when the husband was a mage, and especially more so when he was a dragon slayer.

In fact, there hadn't been many dragon slayers attending that particular hospital so no one was really prepared for his strength, determination, and potty mouth. At least it was a maternity ward where the only children present were too young to understand the words spewing out of his throat.

"Gajeel?" Levy whispered, closing her book again, marking her page with her finger. She reached for his hand, giving it a comforting squeeze, "It's going to be okay, you know? I don't feel a thing anymore, and I'm only three centimeters dilated. It's going to be hours.

He grunted, but at least he responded. He hadn't said much since they'd arrived at the hospital; he turned into more of an animal, gritting his teeth and grunting at everyone who tried to speak to him. The only time he formed actual words was when he was demanding the doctors do things for his wife.

"Gajeel?" grunt, "This is my last book." She'd already run out of the ones in her emergency book bag!

He growled and stood up, ready to thunder his way through all of magnolia to find more reading material for his wonderful woman!

"Calm down," Lily came in, just in time, towing a wagon towering high with books behind him. "I brought more books; so just settle down," he gave Gajeel a glare, willing the dragon to sit back down, seemingly pleased.

"Thank you, Lily!" Levy smiled, opening her last book to complete it before starting the others.

"These ones might still be a little wet, they sprayed them down with sanitizing solution..." otherwise it was just dangerous to allow them into the room! But, again, Gajeel's persuasive power sure was amazing.

"That's okay, I'm sure they'll dry by the time I need them," she yawned against her hand, then opened her book again.

A hand stopped her, grabbing onto the book and shutting it again. Gajeel frowned, lifting the book away from her and setting it down on the side table.

"Gajeel?" Levy pouted, reaching for the book.

He took her hand and shook his head, pressing his other hand against her forehead and laying her head back against the pillow. "Sleep."

"But I'm not that tired! It was just a yawn!"

"Sleep," he repeated, releasing just a little growl at the end of it.

"... Okay," she sighed, folding her hands over her belly. It was such a big belly, all swollen and round, but in a few hours it was going to be a lot smaller.

Levy willed herself to sleep, knowing that she would come to regret not resting later on during the labor. It was difficult to sleep with the commotion of a hospital and she fluttered awake every so often, and every time she woke up she could feel Gajeel's hands around her belly, with his cheek rubbing up and down her belly button; and she could hear him purr, almost as loudly as an engine. His purr sunk deep down into her flesh, warming and soothing her and instilling all of the love that Gajeel could never find the words for.

* * *

"You're almost there, Levy!" the doctor was using her first name now, trying to offer some comfort to the screaming woman in the bed, "Just a few more and you'll be all done."

"Shrimp," Gajeel cooed, holding one hand on hers and the other on the back of her head, supporting its weight while she tensed her muscles.

"SHRIMP!?" she screamed, face going red. At least three veins bulged out of her neck as the woman did her very best to use those small reserves of physical strength to coax the baby out of her body, "LOOK AT ME! I'M HUUUUUUUGE!" she screamed, craning her neck towards him, "BECAUSE OF YOU! WHEN YOU SAID YOU WOULD MAKE ME BIG I DIDN'T MEAN LIKE THIS! NOW YOU GET THIS THING OUT OF ME RIGHT NOW!"

"If I could have this thing for y-"

"DON'T YOU DARE FINISH THAT SENTENCE YOU BIG FUCKING STUPID GODDAMN DRAGON!" did ALL men say that!? How dare they! "YOU'RE NOT TENDING TO MY NEEEEEEDS!"

"A-... Ahh..." Gajeel clenched his mouth shut and nodded, whispering 'yes dear' and 'that's right, dear.'

"There we go," the doctor cooed, "Here we are... here we go..." the sounds of the screaming woman were quickly replaced by the sounds of a screaming baby as, kicking and shrieking, the little bundle left its mothers body and welcomed itself into the word by shouting it to the entire world.

Gajeel was speechless, opening his eyes wide and staring at the little red creature that the nurses were taking away to clean off. Levy had calmed, breathing heavily and sagging down on the bed. Her sweaty hair clung to her face but she looked up at Gajeel with a triumphant smile. "Gajeel..."

He flicked his attention away from the screaming baby and down to the little woman still clutching his hand. He smiled, sitting heavily on the stool he'd been on for hours. He leaned his head in and offered her forehead a kiss, breathing against her hair, "I love ya..."


	4. It's Really Time - Part 2

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"Is that mine?" Gajeel asked, even though he'd seen them take it out of Levy with his own eyes. "Mine?"

"Yes, Mr. Redfox," the nurse said, handing the little bundle down to Levy.

"Mine?" he repeated, mouth going dry.

"It's yours, Gajeel," Levy giggled, "Well... ours."

Gajeel never thought he was going to have a kid, and even though he'd lived with a pregnant woman for 9 months he never really believed it until _then_. He saw the little creature all curled up, nestled against Levy's chest, but he still didn't feel like it was really something that had happened.

"Mine?"

"Ours," Levy whispered, tilting herself a little bit so he could see.

Gajeel raised a hand but stopped just before he touched it; he was such a strong person, and even though he tried not to hurt Levy sometimes he ended up doing it anyways because he couldn't control himself. Levy was used to his bruises and love bites, but a little baby shouldn't have to grow up getting bumped and tossed around by someone as strong as him!

"It's okay," Levy sensed his hesitation and shook her head, "I bet you'll surprise yourself. It'll be okay, right? You've never really hurt me, right?" she didn't count bruises as 'hurt.' He'd never actually hurt them.

"E-... Eh..."

"Come on!"

Levy lifted the baby up and handed the thing over to Gajeel. He swallowed, reaching forward and touching the baby's body between his hands; it was small enough – or he was large enough – to hold it in just one hand, but he held it in two anyways. He held it awkwardly at first but eventually brought it up against his chest, standing up off of the stool.

He turned his back to Levy, standing over by the window where the light could really show him his baby's face. After a time he whispered, "W-... What is it?"

"... Hm?" Levy asked, almost having fallen asleep.

"What is it?" He was so stunned by the baby and so distracted by Levy that he never even heard if it was a boy or a girl.

"She's a girl," Levy whispered, smiling. From behind, Gajeel seemed to be shaking just a little, and she could hear strange... sounds. "Gajeel...? Gajeel, are you crying?"

"N-No!"

"Gajeel..."

"I-I ai- ai- ain't!" he insisted.

Levy just nodded and turned her head in the other direction, smiling to herself, "Okay, Gajeel."

She decided to take a little nap and let Gajeel hold his baby and cry in peace. He sobbed, hunching his shoulders over his little baby and openly crying for it. He wasn't even sure why, but there was such an unreal happiness erupting from his chest and the only opening it seemed to find was through his tears.

* * *

Gajeel licked his lips hungrily, leaning over to get a peek.

"Gajeel," Levy scolded lightly, "Those are for the baby." She held the little girl up to her breast, holding the blanket away from her face so she could get a proper latch.

"Maybe she won't drink it all!"

"Gajeel..."

Right; for the baby. He sat down by the bed, subconsciously reaching a hand up to touch the band-aid on his forehead with a little wince.

"Gajeel..." Levy smiled, "I'm very sorry I bit you." She didn't even know she had that kind of thing in her, that she was capable of something like that. She was normally such a sweet person! During the labor, though, Gajeel's head got just a little too close, so she bit down on one of his piercings and tore it right off of his face. It somehow made her feel better that he was screaming just as loud as she was.

"It's okay," he grinned, "I bite ya all the time." In different places, for different reasons, and with different results, but it was almost the same. Almost. Sort of.

"Are we still going to go with 'Lilia'?" she asked, looking down at the baby's face.

"Yeah," he grinned. Lilia if it was a girl; Pantora if it was a boy. Both of them were played off of Lily's name, and they supposed it was only fair since Lily had suffered a great deal through the pregnancy. Gajeel took care of the worrying and over-protection while Lily took care of the practical things like not forgetting the groceries. He took care of Levy while Gajeel was on missions and, now that Gajeel and Levy would be home with the baby, he was going to go on missions alone or with other groups to pull in more money until the couple could go out again and earn their own keep. Lily meant a great deal to their little family.

"Is the guild out there?" Levy didn't really need to ask since she knew they'd be out there, but all the same!

"Of course," Gajeel grinned, "I can hear 'em."

"You can let them in when I'm done feeding Lilia," she closed her eyes.

"Then yer gonna sleep after that."

"Okay... but just for a little while," she yawned, going a little more lax. Gajeel reached forward and supported her arms, keeping the baby upright so Levy didn't have to use as much strength.

"Just for a little while," he leaned down and gave each of his ladies a kiss, "Then I'm gonna take ya home..."

"I miss home," Levy whispered, tilting her head into Gajeel's. He nuzzled the side of her face and, for the fourth time that day, started to purr. She loved his purr... her dragon's purr was the most soothing, beautiful sound in the world to her – and it sent both herself and her daughter into a comforting, deep sleep.

"I miss home, too."

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_I am CONSIDERING doing a third story which will be a parallel to 'Purr,' about a second Fairy Tail couple. I will probably do Gruvia, but if I do that then I would add in Lyon as well. Not sure, though. Just considering. CONSIDERING._


	5. Stinkies!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

**Four Years Old**

"Did daddy make a stinky?" It was such an innocent question coming from a tiny girl with her fingers pressed over her nose to block out the smell.

"Eh!? NO!" Gajeel grunted, looking between his legs where Lilia stuck her head, trying to look up at him. He lowered a hand and pushed her head back through, wanting to get her away from the flying, boiling grease, "Ya get yer head out of there!"

"Why is it so smelly?"

"I'm cookin'!"

Lilia's nose scrunched up and she hopped up and down, trying to see what was in the bubbling pan, "Mommy's food never makes stinky!"

"Well she ain't here!" he frowned, using his own iron hand to stir the food. Maybe it was done? He had no idea; was a half an hour long enough for a potato to fry properly? It could contain lots of bacteria – maybe a few more minutes, just to be safe...

He wished Lily was there. The cat could cook better than he could, but he was on another job with Wendy; he liked going out with Wendy since Carla was more intelligent company than Happy was, although the three cats were very good friends.

He supposed he was lucky, though, that Levy trusted him enough to leave him home alone with the Peanut while she was on jobs. It was a full year after Natsu's baby was born before Lucy would even consider leaving him alone with it for more than ten minutes – either Levy was more trusting or Gajeel was just all-around more responsible. Maybe both, gihi!

Still, it was his shift so he couldn't complain. Last time he had been the one on a job, leaving Shrimp alone with Peanut, and this time he was home alone. He liked to complain about it but he never felt regret, and he loved every minute of it.

Almost every minute of it.

"The heck are ya-... GET THAT OFFA YER FACE!"

"Bud daddy, is stiggy!" Lilia nasaled, crossing her eyes to look at the clothes pin she'd pinched over her nose, "I dod wad to sbell it!"

"It ain't that bad!" it really was, though. He just hadn't been paying attention. He looked down at his 'meal' and sneered at it, waving his hand over his nose. He was more of a meat man – he could cook a nice, roasted steer leg over an open pit of fire, but Shrimp insisted that Lilia's constitution demanded something more sensitive like vegetables and fruits. Apparently those weren't supposed to be roasted over an open flame; live and learn.

* * *

If there was one thing about fatherhood that Gajeel wished he could get rid of, it was all of the attention. He sometimes reminisced about the days when people would go out of their way to avoid him when he walked down the street. The longer he spent in Fairy Tail and the longer he spent with Levy, the less people actively avoided him, but it still wasn't so bad. Whenever he went walking down the street with his Peanut on his shoulder, waving her blue hair from side to side and singing happy songs, people not only DIDN'T avoid him, they approached, coddled, complimented, prodded and spoke to him! It was annoying!

"She's just the cutest little thing I've ever seen! Is she the daughter of a rich family? Are you her body guard?"

"Eh!?" he frowned, raising an arm so the Peanut could hold on and not topple over. She was perched high up on his shoulder like a parrot, just like the Shrimp did - only Lilia got the opposite shoulder. One for each lady!"No! She's my kid! Get outta my way, lady!"

"She must look more like her mother!"

They got that a lot! Externally, Lilia was more like Levy. She had the blue hair, the sweet eyes, and she was much too small for her age. The resemblance to Gajeel came out in her personality; the little devil girl smirked, laughed and played nasty jokes just like him. Levy didn't like it; Gajeel used it to bond.

Fine, then. He'd just take a little detour, turn down this street and avoid that mass of people up ahead. Ehh, this street was familiar. Wasn't it the one where Levy bought her-...? No... no, NO, NO NO NO!

"Ooooo, daddy!" Lilia stretched her hands out, making grabby fingers at the window sill of Levy's favorite bandana shop. "Oooooo!" the pretty colors! The patterns! The new styles!

"No! We're goin' out to dinner!"

"But daddy!" she shrieked, starting to kick his chest with her heels.

"I ain't gonna do it!" besides, they'd just gone there YESTERDAY. And she was wearing THREE bandanas on her head – at the same time!

"I SAID I WANT IT! I WANT IT I WANT IT I WANT IT I WAN-"

Gajeel grabbed her ankle and pulled her off of his shoulder, hanging her upside down in front of him like a piece of poultry, "What'd I say about screamin' like that!?"

"Daddy said it's not very nice and it's mean and he doesn't like it... and it hurts daddy's earsies."

"We ain't goin' to the store, we're gonna go eat, right?" he frowned.

Lilia sniffled, nodding her head and stretching out her arms towards her father's upside down face. He sighed, righting her again and pulling her up against his chest. "I'm sorry, daddy," she whispered, grabbing fistfuls of his hair to bury her face in it.

"... That's okay, Peanut," he sighed, walking right past the store and fixing her little skirt, "Ya don't need any more of those things." Even though he fully intended on going back to get her one... after dinner. He was just a big softie.

"Okay, daddy!"


	6. Unky Lazy!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

**Four Years Old**

"Kyii!" Lilia shrieked, hiding her head down under her covers. The lightning flashed in through her window, followed less than a second later by an enormous crashing outside her house. The storm was close, and it scared her.

She didn't mind lightning so much when Uncle Laxus – who she endearingly mispronounced as Unky Lazy – did it, because she could see where the lightning was coming from. Storms were different because, as far as she could tell, that scary sound and scary light were coming from some creature with mal intent.

The thunder crashed again and she screamed, vibrating her whole bed with her shakes. The door to her bedroom opened and she sniffled, raising her head up above her covers.

A pair of red, glowing eyes narrowed at her, coming closer from out of the dark recesses of her bedroom. She sniffled and pushed away her covers, reaching her hands up for the eyes and making grabby fingers.

Unlike many people before her, Lilia never learned to hate or be afraid of those eyes – those were daddy's eyes. When they got close enough she grabbed at them in a wide circle, hugging his head tightly and letting him lift her up, out of her bed.

"It's okay, Peanut," he crooned, holding his arms under her bum while she shook against his face, "It's just lightning."

"K-KYII!" he screamed into his hair when another crash broke out. "I-Is it Unky Lazy!?"

"No," he grinned, starting to carry her back to his bedroom, "It's just lightning from the sky."

"K-Kyiii!"

He crawled onto his bed, supporting himself with one hand and using the other to hold her up. He laid on his side, prying the girl away from his head so he could breath, and hugged her against his chest. "Just fer tonight."

"Okay, daddy," she whispered, curling into a tight little ball and hugging up against daddy's chest. "And tomorrow night?"

"No, just tonight."

"Ok..."

Gajeel sighed and bent his head down to kiss the top of her head. She was such a little beast, sometimes. But she was a cute beast, and she was his beast!

* * *

Grunt; snort. Gajeel opened his eyes and wiped some drool from the corner of his mouth, instinctively reaching around the bed for Levy. Oh, that's right... she was on a mission; he was sleeping with Peanut. He reached on the other side of him for Peanut, since that was 'her' side of the bed, but she wasn't there, either.

Damnit! Those women woke up at the crack of dawn! He panicked, checking the clock. To the normal human being it was 'only 9 AM,' but to a father it was 'THE KID'S BEEN UP FOR HOURS, UNATTENDED!'

He kicked away his covers and nearly burst his door down, looking up and down the hallway, keeping his ears open. He could hear something so at least she was still in the house; sometimes she liked to sneak out and go searching for the other guild members. So where was she!?

He followed the sounds she was making, down the stairs into their living room area.

"Mmm, mm, because he is the best, and mommy is the best, and daddy is very big and mommy is small like me, and we are, mm, mmm, we are faaaaamily," Lilia sand in her own odd little tune, tilting her head from side to side as she imagined what the music might sound like in her head. The floor was littered in page upon page of drawings, each one with a little figure on it to represent Lilia's 'family;' Unky Lazy, Unky Gay, Daddy, Mommy, Unky Nasu, Ahny Mijane, Ahny Liana. Gajeel could barely recognize who they were but a few of them were rather good – like Makarov who had wrinkles covering almost every inch of his face.

The dragon grinned and walked the rest of the way down the stairs, shifting some of the pages over with his feet to clear enough room for him to lay down.

"Morning, daddy!" Lilia smiled, lifting up the piece she was working on and holding it up for him to see. It was Lily, but it was a hybrid cross between his large form and his small form – it was hilarious.

"GIHI!" he laughed, sitting himself down behind her and inspecting the drawing, "He's gonna love this!"

"When does Unkle Lily comes back?" she asked, taking the paper from him and putting it with the others while she grabbed another sheet to start anew.

"He'll be back a few days after yer mum," he explained, yawning. Damn, it was too early to be awake. He lowered himself down, resting on his side and propping his head up with his hand.

After a few minutes Lilia set down her crayon, looking inquisitive. "Daddy?"

"Peanut?"

"Why does sometimes daddy always looks at Lilia for a long time?"

"You mean 'stare'?"

"Stare," Lilia repeated, "Looks for a long time?"

"It's because you're beautiful."

"Like mommy?"

"Different than mommy," he grinned, "But still beautiful."

"Oh... Lilia thinks that daddy is also pretty."

He grinned, using his arm as a pillow, "I am pretty!"

"Mmmm!" she smiled, going back to her drawings. She sketched ten pictures of mommy and daddy and herself – it was her favorite subject. 'Family portraits' lined almost every inch of the walls in her room, while the rest of the house was full of other drawings of the guild members.

"Daddy! Look!" Lilia smiled, holding up her newest drawing. "Daddy?" daddy offered no response. "Daddy?" no response. She turned and blinked, watching a line of drool drip down from his mouth. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be very, very asleep. "Daddy..."

Lilia stood up, slapping her little bare feet across the floor and up the stairs. She ran into her room and snatched something off of her bed, dragging it all the way back down to the living room. She lifted the blanket that she grabbed, carefully setting it down over Gajeel, all bunched up and revealing half of his body to the cold – at least it was summer.

"Good night, daddy!" Lilia whispered, giving him a sloppy, wet kiss on the forehead before going back to her drawing that she made of Levy and herself, both sitting atop Gajeel's shoulders; everyone was smiling, and everyone was clearly elated.


	7. Slippery bums

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

_Author's Note: This is my favorite chapter, hehe.  
_

_Also, here's a Levy chapter! There are a few chapters with Levy in it, so don't worry :3 She hasn't appeared too much as of late but I intend to do more chapters with her and I have others already written. More pre-birth chapters, I think.  
_

* * *

**Four Years Old**

"GRAB HER!"

"WHERE IS SHE!?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Gajeel threw his hands up, feeling hopeless. "Did ya shut all the doors!?"

"Of course I did, Gajeel!"

"What about the windows!"

"... KYAA!" how could she be so stupid! The window right by the front door; she forgot to shut it! And to any 4-year-old, an open window was an effective means of escape. She ran back down the stairs for the third time, almost falling on her face as her foot hit a wet patch and she slipped, tumbling forward.

A strong hand caught her, offering her just a second of safety before Gajeel's foot hit the same wet patch and they both crashed down the narrow stairway. The dragon's arms wrapped tightly around Levy, cradling her as they hit the floor, and although both of them were fine he'd be surprised if there weren't a few dents in the wood.

"C-Come on!" Levy grunted, wriggling out of his arms and standing up to run out the front door.

"I'm comin', DAMNIT!" the dragon, soaked from head to toe, pulled himself up and followed her. There in the distance he could see a tiny, pink creature, covered in soapy bubbles and standing on the little dirt road to their house.

"Hi, daddy! Hi, mommy!"

"DON'T YOU 'HI, DADDY' ME!" Gajeel roared, easily passing his wife, despite sprinting as quickly as she could. "YA GET BACK HERE!"

"No!" Lilia took off running again, giving the whole world a lovely view of her nude little bottom, running through the streets, "No bath!"

"Lilia, you listen to your father!" Levy shrieked, panting, "When your father catches you, you're really going to get it!" although she was still trying to figure out what 'it' was, since neither of the parents were too good with punishments. Levy was too kind-hearted and Gajeel was too taken by her puppy eyes.

Lilia, knowing this, kept running, sending up a little cloud of dirt behind her. Bubbles started floating off of her, floating away from her skin to which they clung. "No bath! No bath!"

The girl was a fast little beast, but daddy was much faster. He caught up to her and snatched her up, grinning triumphantly, "HAH! GOTCHA!" he whirled around, holding her above his head for Levy to see, "SHRIMP! I GOT TH-"

"Wheee!" Lilia laughed. With her body covered in soap and bubbles, she just slipped right out of Gajeel's lands, landing on the ground by his feet. As soon as she realized she was free, she dashed off again into a small alleyway where Gajeel couldn't fit.

"The hell just happened!?" Gajeel kept his hands raised up like she was still there, apparently amazed that she managed to get away, "THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!?"

"Calm down, Gajeel," Levy panted, stopping in front of him and keeling over, "Oh, I can't even fit in there!"

"What're ya talkin' about? Course ya can!" he took her by the shoulders and tried to smush her into the alleyway made for a storm drain, "Get in there!"

"GA-JE-EL, I DON'T FIT!" she screamed, slapping his hands away and pulled her arm out of the tiny space. "We need to get her out of there!" she'd never come out on her own will as long as she knew there was a bath waiting at home for her, and they couldn't just lie to her and tell her that she didn't have to take a bath just to lure her out; that would be dishonest.

"Yer gonna hafta punish her."

"Me!?"

"Yep."

"Why not YOU!?"

"Cus yer the mom!"

"And you're the FATHER!"

"Ya gave birth!"

"YOU HELPED!"

"Ya bit my face," he reminded her, bending real low and narrowing his eyes.

"... I apologized for that," she turned herself away from him. "I'll come up with the punishment, if you do the punishing! Okay?"

"... Fine!"

"Okay..." Levy sighed, rubbing her nose with her fingertips, "Okay, okay. Here's what we'll do. You need to tell her that if she doesn't come out of there right now, we'll be taking away all of her bandanas and we're not going to let her buy anymore."

"WHAT!?"

"Gajeel... you said that you could do this."

Gajeel hesitated; Peanut was so beautiful with her little bandanas wrapped around her head, or used as a belt around her waist. He didn't want to take those away from her! She was the most adorable little thing... right beside his wife.

"Gajeel," Levy rested her hands on his arm, giving him a smile, "We're her parents, and this is our job. If we don't punish her, then she'll grow up to be spoiled, and we'll have failed our job. We need to do this... we need to."

Gajeel removed himself from his wife's hands and slammed his hands on either side of the little alleyway, "Peanut! Are ya listenin'?"

Levy noticed that his voice was a little strained; he always got this way when he had to make the Peanut feel badly.

"I'm listening, daddy!" she crouched down, just out of reach of her parents.

"If ya don't come outta there right now... we're gonna take away... TEN of your bandanas!"

"Gajeel!" Levy hissed, kicking his shin; that wasn't the agreement!

"... HALF of your bandanas!" His little Shrimplet kicked at his shins again and he tilted his head back, releasing a groan, "... All yer bandanas. We're not gonna let ya play with 'em anymore, and we're not gonna let ya buy any more of 'em."

"N-... no!" Lilia started to cry, rubbing her eyes, "But those are my favorites and they make me look just like mommy and I like to play with them and make me look cute and match mommy!"

"Well..." he rubbed the back of his head, "Maybe we can-"

Levy's hand shot out, grabbing his ear and twisting his head to the side. He better not undo the punishment!

The dragon dropped down to his knees, leaning his head in to look at Peanut more closely, "Ya gotta take a bath now. We ain't doin' it because we wanna hurt ya, but it's because we love ya. Ya gotta be healthy and smell good, like mommy."

"Smell like mommy?"

"Yeah!"

Lilia came a little closer, crawling on her hands and knees, "Will I use mommy's things?"

"Sure!"

"Hey!" Levy gasped; her shampoo was expensive!

Gajeel waved her away and reached for Peanut as soon as she got close enough. She took her into his arms, cradling her little body closely to him, "Now that's a good girl!" he chuckled, kissing the side of her head.

"Mommy, daddy, I am sorry..."

"It's okay," Levy stood up on her tip toes to give her a kiss on the cheek, "We both love you very much!"

"I love you too!" Lilia giggled, hiding her happy little face in Gajeel's neck.


	8. Baby Boom

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"I can't believe it," Lucy groaned, laying her head down on the counter, "So I got home, and the entire apartment smelled like smoke! I found Natsu and the baby, and they were in the kitchen trying to invent new foods that you had to set on fire! HE NEVER COOKS!"

Mira started laughing and Levy shook her head, looking less amused; she knew what it was like to experience a burning kitchen.

"What about you?"

"Huh?" Levy lifted her head, turning her attention back to Mira.

"What about you, Levy? What's the worst thing you've ever come home to?"

"..."

Lucy slid to the edge of her stool, eyes lighting up, "This is going to be such a good story!"

* * *

_Three years earlier..._

"Are you sure everything was okay while I was gone?" Levy asked, holding her purse in front of her while Lily took care of her heavy bags.

"It was just fine, I assure you," the cat smiled, "Gajeel is a very good father." Surprisingly.

"I know he is! But we're both new at this, and I worried the entire time..." It was her first trip out since she had the baby; she had just been gone for two days, but it felt amazing to be like her old self. She went with Jet and Droy – just like old times – because she was worried to go by herself, not having really used her magic in a long time. Then again, she never really went by herself in the first place.

She was feeling great, and looking great! She and Droy had put themselves on a heavy diet and exercise regimen, Levy to work off the baby weight and Droy to work off the 'holy shit Levy and everyone else disappeared for 7 years what do I do!?' weight. Neither had ever looked better!

It was time to go home, though, and Lily was kind enough to pick her up at the train station while Gajeel stayed home with the baby. Levy had worried, but since Lily told her everything was fine, she felt the weight almost lift right off of her shoulders!

"Home is just around the corner!" Levy sighed, taking a deep breath. She couldn't wait to hold her baby, and hug her husband! And maybe some other... things. No! No! Gajeel was rubbing off way too much! "And then I-"

Both Lily and Levy stopped, eyes going wide when they turned the corner. Since neither Gajeel's apartment nor Levy's dorm room were suited to the married life or the 'raising a child' life, they'd opted instead to a nice, free-standing house in a little couples community. It was good for starter homes and small families; it wasn't very big, but Gajeel and Levy fully intended on getting a proper home some day.

The day had come, apparently. What was once the little house of Gajeel and Levy Redfox had blown to bits. Each of the four walls lay on either side of the foundation, and the roof was nowhere to be seen – but there were bits of debris everywhere. Gajeel, with a little baby cradled against his shoulder, stood in the front lawn, staring at Levy and giving her his best 'this is definitely not my fault' grin.

It didn't work.

"GAJEEL REDFOX, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO OUR HOUSE!?" Levy screamed, throwing her purse down and charging at him. Lily had told her that everything was fine, so whatever had happened, somehow happened in the time frame of just one hour.

"I know what yer thinkin'!" Gajeel held his arm out defensively, fully prepared to use the baby as a shield if he had to, "Ya get away from me, crazy woman!"

"OUR... OUR HOUSE!" when she got close enough she started beating her little fists against his chest, then reached for her baby and tugged her out of his arms, "Is she okay!? Is she hurt at all!? Was she in the house when it happened!? Are there scratches, did you take her to the healer's, has she been looked at!?"

"First of all," Gajeel growled, grabbing her shoulders and lifting her – and the baby – up to look him in the face, "I'm totally fine! And so's the kid."

"H- H- H- H-" Levy's mouth opened and closed like a fish – she was so angry and incredulous that she couldn't even find the words.

"Okay, just calm down, Woman! And let me explain..."

* * *

_30 minutes earlier..._

"Yer mom's comin' home!" Gajeel grinned, lifting Lilia up over his head. He couldn't be more excited; he'd never been alone with Lilia for that long before. Lily was there, of course, but he didn't like to rely on the cat for too much. Damnit, this was his kid and he was the one responsible for it when Levy wasn't there to share the load.

"She's gonna change yer diaper," he hugged her to his chest, using his finger to tickle her nose, "Cus ya stink, and I don't wanna change another one of them damn things." He really should watch his language, but as long as the baby didn't know how to speak...

The baby made some baby words, babbling and cooing up at the big man with the shinies all over his face. She reached her little fingers up and, for the thousandth time, tried to grab them so she could suck on them.

"Those ain't yers!" he grinned, intercepting her hand with his mouth. He nibbled on her little fingers, letting them wiggle around.

But no, that just wouldn't do. She wanted those shinies; she wanted to touch them and see what they felt like. Why did they glisten in the light? Why did they sit on his face and not on that milk-creature's face? They were so beautiful...

Lilia ripped her hand out of Gajeel's mouth and reached up for the piercings, wiggling her fingers up at them. She grunted, sounding frustrated. After his wife managed to bite one of his piercings out, though, he didn't trust either of his ladies with them.

He tilted his head away and grinned, "Yer not gonna get'em!"

She... wanted... them! "KYIIII!" Lilia screamed, little eyes looking determined.

"I said yer not gonna get'em!" Gajeel insisted, starting to set her down.

By that time, many people had noticed a very special characteristic of Lilia. It was bound to happen at one point, at least to a smaller scale. After all, Gajeel was an Iron Dragon Slayer and Levy was a Solid Script mage. Both of her parents were incredibly powerful and skilled, so it stood to reason that Lilia would, in the future, become a very skilled mage. Whatever magic inherently laid in her was, at the time, very much untrained – how could she use it when she was such a little thing? Although the problem was less 'using' and more 'controlling.'

She could not control it.

In a little fit of anger, Lilia shook her limbs all around and gave her father a scream that very clearly told him, 'I WANT THE SHINIES!' magic energy poofed out of her like a bomb, bouncing off of the walls, blasting the roof off of the house and sending debris flying in every direction.

Gajeel threw himself down, shielding the little baby with his arms and his head, wrapping his neck around her. When the dust settled he raised his head back up, mouth agape, terrified. Mommy was going to be angry.

* * *

_Present day..._

By the time Levy was done with her story, the entire guild was listening. When she finished, the room was silent for a few seconds before bursting into laughter that shook the walls.

Despite there having been an actual explosion of magical energy, the couple made sure that no one found out about it. It was embarrassing! Their baby brought down the house! She was a regular member of Fairy Tail, then; she wasn't much more than a year old and she was already destroying property!

Levy was red, sighing and shaking her head. She could feel Gajeel's eyes boring into the back of her head; she promised not to tell anyone that story!

"Mommy! Mommy!"

"Yes, Lilia?"

"Why everyone laughs?"

"Don't worry about it," Levy smiled and lifted Lilia up onto her lap, "Just don't get too excited, Li." Or she might bring down the whole guild hall.


	9. Discussions with daddy

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

**One year old**

"Gmmpi, blufla imcpmm, capgmpiiii!"

"Really!?" Levy gasped, bending down and holding her hands on her cheeks, "Is that really what happened?"

"Fffffttt! Aghhemi gapff."

"I see!"

"EH!?"

"Hmm?" Levy turned herself to look up at Gajeel, who looked rather bewildered, "What's wrong?"

"YA SPEAK BABY!?"

"What?"

"Ya can understand what she's sayin'!?" Gajeel bent down, grabbing Lilia by her little shoulders and staring at her face. What language was this? Their baby was only a year old and often spoke in gibberish, using her tongue like the 'big people' and trying to form words that didn't quite come out yet.

Levy started laughing, plopping her bottom on the ground and shaking her head, "Of course not, Gajeel! She's not really saying anything."

"But ya were talkin' like it was real!"

"I know! You should just encourage them to keep talking, let them know that what they are saying is good. That's how they'll learn to talk. It's like pretend!" Levy smiled, studying the confused look on Gajeel's face.

Like pretend? Pretending to talk to your baby... That was weird. He was never going to do that. Ever.

* * *

"Uuuhhmm! Ah-pfff, ah-pff, yyyUUUUU!"

"I KNOW!" Gajeel roared, slapping his hands on his knees, "And then he went down! Real hard! Cracked his head against the ground!"

"AGGGYY! Gmphhh, ppppfff!"

"No, it's true, I'm tellin' ya! I just hit him once and he went FLYIN'!" he threw his arms into the air to demonstrate, "Then I grabbed my sword, right?" he grinned, "And took a big swing at his-"

"GAJEEL!" Levy gasped, running downstairs. "Gajeel, what are you saying to the baby!?"

"I'm pretend talkin'! Just like ya told me to, it's pretty fun!" he beamed.

"But why are you talking about THOSE things!?"

"Listen here," he pointed a finger at her, frowning, "If I'm gonna talk to a kid that ain't saying anything back to me, then I'm gonna make my side of the conversation pretty damn interesting!"

"But... but..." Levy sighed, rubbing her nose between her fingers. "But when she learns to really speak..."

"I won't teach her any of that stuff; what kinda father d'ya think I am?" he frowned, "I'll be a real good one!" he snatched up Lilia, hugging her up against his chest and rubbing his cheeks up and down the baby's head.

"Just... ahh..." they were so cute like that... Levy just smiled, walking to sit down beside Gajeel. She leaned against his shoulder and closed her eyes, feeling his warmth, "Fine... just don't make it too inappropriate."

"If I wouldn't tell you, then I won't tell the kid!"

That wasn't too reassuring. Gajeel told Levy things that she didn't want to hear all the time! "Okay, Gajeel."

After that, it wasn't rare for Levy to walk in on Gajeel having very intense conversations with Lilia. Most of the time the girl would stare, wide-eyed and open-mouthed at her father who roared on about things that she couldn't understand. He was so animated, though, so powerful and boisterous that her own form of baby-talk started to match his way of speaking; screaming, throwing her little hands around and trying to sound as exciting as the big man with the shinies all over his face.

* * *

**Four years old**

"Daddy?"

Gajeel rolled over, removing his arm from over his eyes. Levy might kill him for letting the Peanut draw on their bed, but she was on a job with Jet and Droy and it was her fault for leaving them alone, if anything happened! "Yeah, Peanut?"

Lilia continued drawing with her back to her father, seemingly more interested in her drawing than in the conversation that she had chosen to start, "Mmmhh, Gampi Marov said things..."

"Grandpa Makarov?" he grinned, rolling onto his side and propping his head up with his hand, "What did he say?"

"Mmm... Gampi said daddy used to do bad things..."

"..."

"Daddy?"

"... Mmh?"

"Did daddy used to do bad things?"

Gajeel reached his arm forward, taking Lilia around her waist and pulling her over to him, hugging her against his chest, "Yes, he used to do bad things."

"Did daddy used to not pick up his toys?"

He grinned, "No, not those things."

"Oh... did daddy used to not eat his food?"

"No, not those kinds of things, either."

"Oh..." what other bad things were there? Lilia frowned, looking rather confused. "Daddy?"

"Mm?"

"What bad things did you do?"

"Hmmm..." he idly stroked her arm, wondering how to best put it. He promised himself that he wouldn't ever lie to his daughter (or his wife), and maybe it would be a good lesson. "I used to hurt people, very badly. I used to be a very mean person; I made a lot of people cry, and I made a lot of people need band-aids."

"Oh," she turned her head to look down at him, "But daddy told me that those things are very bad..."

"They are bad," he rolled onto his back, pulling him with her and letting her sit cross-legged up on his chest, "That's why I don't do them anymore. That's why yer mom and I tell you to be nice to people, and not to hurt people. Because doing them things is bad for ya... okay?"

"Daddy?"

"Eh?"

"If you do bad things, do I get to put you in the no-no zone?"

He grinned, bouncing her up and down with his laugh, "Yep!"

"Okay, daddy!" she reached down and grabbed his face in a tight hug, "I love you, daddy!"

"... Yeah," he whispered, wrapping his massive arms around her, "I love ya too, Peanut."


	10. Hide and RUN FOR IT!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

**Four years old**

She had to get out of here. She had to run before... before she was caught. Levy panted, turning her head and running through the halls of her home, bumping into the walls and stumbling every so often on her own feet. Not fast enough, she wasn't fast enough to get away!

At the end of the hall, to the left of the bright window on the second floor, she found sanctuary. The linen closet was just big enough for someone to hide in, and since she was smaller than the average person there would be more than enough room for her! She grinned to herself, gave a little fist pump of triumph and ran towards the closet. Her hand grabbed the knob, and gave it a hard twist.

Nothing.

She frowned, trying to turn it again, but it refused to turn. It was just a linen closet... there was no lock on it! So...

"Gajeel!" Levy hissed, twisting the knob helplessly, "Gajeel, are you in there!?"

"Get away!"

"Gajeel, PLEASE let me in!"

"No!" he frowned, keeping a firm hold on the knob so she wouldn't be able to open it, "This is my spot!"

"Let me in! I've already looked everywhere else!"

"NO! Yer too big, ya won't fit!"

"..." her mouth gaped open, eyes rolling back incredulously. Did he just call her... too BIG for something!? "You-... you... YOU!"

"Gihihihi!" he chuckled, then stopped, "... I hear her, she's comin'!"

"LET ME IN!"

"No!"

"Gajeel Redfox, if you don't let me in here right now I'm going to sleep in my feetie pajamas tonight!" and those things were like Ft. Knox to any sexually aroused man.

"..." The door opened slowly and a hand grabbed her, pulling her inside. It was a tight fit, but he managed to shut the door with the both of them inside; and he did like the feeling of her little bottom pressed up against his thighs and 'other' areas.

The next several seconds were spent in silence, with Gajeel keeping his hold on the door knob to prevent certain small persons from opening it. After the long moment, Gajeel could hear the first signs of approach.

Her little feet slapped against the floor in an odd rhythm, clearly not sure which direction she should be taking. Her arms wrapped tightly around the stuffed bear that her daddy gave her, desperately seeking her parents, "Mommy? Daddy?" Lilia called, opening up the doors to peek inside. "Daddy?"

Both Gajeel and Levy kept themselves quiet, trying not to be found.

"G-Gajeel... please go out there," Levy whispered, "I... I can't play anymore! I'm so tired! Please!" Lilia had made them play for HOURS! She was so exhausted; the kid had so much energy, she couldn't keep up!

"Shhh! She'll hear ya!" damnit, he knew he shouldn'ta let his woman into his hiding spot. She was going to give them away.

"But Gajeel," Levy's eyes started to tear up, "I'm so tired..." she tilted her head against his belly, "Please..."

Her dragon stared at her in the darkness, giving a sigh of defeat. He waited until he heard Lilia enter one of the rooms then slowly opened the door to the linen closet.

"Thank you!" Levy smiled, "I'll make it up to you, I- HEY!" instead of letting himself out, he took Levy's shoulder and gave her a little shove out of the closet, then shut the door on her.

"Gihihihi!"

"Mommy!" Lilia came out of her bedroom to see Levy standing there in the hallway outside of the linen closet, surrounded by an aura of rage. "Mommy! Where did you and daddy go?"

"... W-Where?" Levy asked with a smile, bending down to pull her daughter into a hug, "Oh, we were um... well, we were just doing something, we didn't hear you."

"Oh... do you want to play tea party?"

"Sure!" Levy smiled, kissing Lilia's forehead. Tea Party... that game took at least three hours. She wasn't going to wear a set of feetie pajamas that night, no. She was going to wear THREE!

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_Haha, I hope I didn't make Levy and Gajeel come off as horrible parents. I just imagine that there are some times when your child makes you want to run and hide; and that's precisely what they were doing! Gajeel is obviously better at it than Levy. Yeah, just to be clear, they're not playing hide-and-seek. They're just regular hiding.  
_


	11. Step wobble scream

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

_Author's Note: This chapter has little hints of dirtiness, so read the second half at your own risk! It's nothing too bad :3 shouldn't even be considered a lemon.  
_

* * *

**One Year Old**

Step... step... wobble... step... thump! "... GGGGHIIIIIIIII! GYYAAHHHH! AHHHH!"

"PEANUT!" Gajeel reached down and lifted the baby up from the ground, cradling her up against his chest and rocking back and forth, "It's okay, Peanut! Ya just fell down!" he pulled her away and held her out in front of him, giving her a thorough inspection, "Are ya hurt!? Are ya bleedin'!?" he bent down and set her on the ground, touching her little limbs and checking for breaks.

"Gajeel!" Levy puffed, "I fell down the stairs yesterday and you LAUGHED at me!"

"Cus ya were funny!" Gajeel frowned, "She's just a little baby! She's gonna get hurt some day and we gotta protect'er and keep her safe and let her know that she's loved and make sure she ain't got any breaks and... SHRIMP! SHRIMP! HER LITTLE ARM'S BROKEN!" he took the baby's arm and bent it double.

"... That's just her elbow! It's SUPPOSED to bend like that!" now Gajeel was just being ridiculous. She reached for the baby and pulled her into her own arms, hugging her tightly. "Gajeel, you know... you can't freak out every time she falls. She's a baby and she's just learning to walk, she's going to fall and get hurt lots of times. But you need to teach her that it's okay, and that she can always get up and that she isn't really hurt. Okay?"

"... Hm." Gajeel gave the baby a once-over, and she seemed to be fine. She'd stopped crying, the tears were all dry and she was starting to smile again. She was really okay!

"See?" Levy put the baby back down on her two little feet, letting her wobble her way over to the chair to hold onto something. "She's just fine now..." Shrimp reached for Gajeel, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing her head to his chest, "She knows that she's loved and protected. Okay?"

"But-"

"She's right, Gajeel," Lily smiled, jumping off of the couch. "If you make a fuss every time she falls down, you could make her think that it is okay to cry and scream every time she gets a tiny bump. It is okay for them to get hurt, that is how they learn their lessons. Don't you want Lilia to grow up strong?" Lily knew what he was talking about, certainly. He raised Mystogan as a little baby back in Edolas, and he loved children in general. Children also tended to love him given that he was like a living teddy bear – Lilia loved to suck on his ears.

"... Gihi! Yer right!" Gajeel grinned, spreading his legs and smiling to his kid. "Yer gonna be the biggest and strongest! I hope ya fall down lots!"

"Well now don't go ENCOURAGING it!" Levy shrieked, beating her hands against his back.

"I'm going to go visit Carla," Lily turned away and left through his own little door they'd made for him so he could reach the handle, "We're going to try and help Lucy and Natsu with the baby." The little beast wouldn't stop trying to eat Happy!

When Lily shut his little door, Levy started to shuffle her feet, "Gajeel..."

"Eh?"

"I'm kind of... 'hungry.'"

"Ya wanna eat?" he rubbed the back of his head, turning towards their fridge. She'd just gotten back from one of her first missions since the baby, and she must not have eaten well! "I think we made so-"

"... No, Gajeel," Levy gabbed his wrist, "I-... I mean... I'm hungry..." she had needs, too.

"... Oh. Oh! … OHHH! GGRAAHHH!" he grabbed her under her arms and hoisted her over his shoulder, running up the stairs with her.

"Th-The baby!"

"SHE'S HAVIN' FUN PLAYING!" and besides, she couldn't go up the stairs!

* * *

"Oh, oh, HAHHH, OHHH!" Levy cried out, dragging her nails down Gajeel's back and arching herself up into him.

"Haarrummm," Gajeel's head dipped down, biting into her neck and forming a nice little hickey between his teeth, suckling the flesh into his mouth and trying to give her a pretty little spot. "Shhhh," he cooed through his teeth, trying to calm her down; she was being too loud!

"Mmmm!"

"..." Gajeel frowned a little, looking down at her.

"Gmmphhiiii!"

"Stop makin' them sounds," he pulled away, "Ya sound just like the Peanut!"

"Gajeel, that wasn't me!"

"..."

"Gggpohhhuuu!" Lilia smiled, using her little legs to cross from the door of her parents' bedroom to the opposite wall. She plopped herself on her tiny bottom and grabbed some blocks that she'd left in there the day before, stacking them neatly and then using her hands to crash into them. "GGGGPHHHH!"

"... She's distracted!" Gajeel bent his head down again and opened his mouth to pull Levy's neck into his teeth again.

"Not... NOT WITH THE BABY IN THE ROOM!" Levy shrieked, pushing him away. "Who taught her how to walk, ANYWAYS!?" and since when did she know how to climb stairs?

"... So we're done?"

"We're done."

"... But..."

"Done!" Levy sighed, grabbing a robe and wrapping herself up in it. "Oh, Lilia... you're just so mean to us."

"GGGFFIIII!"


	12. Levy's Gift

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

_Author's Note: _

_Oh my, haha. This chapter came out of nowhere. I got the quick idea and had to write it, so forgive me. Stick with me, though! _

* * *

**Four Years Old**

"Ya ready to see mommy!?"

"YEAH!" Lilia punched the air, shrieking a little battle cry and barreling out of the guild hall. Mommy was coming home today! She had been gone for three days this time, which wasn't too long of a time, but they always had a super nice dinner whenever mommy or daddy got back from their jobs!

"LET'S GO!" Gajeel ran past her, scooping her up and holding one of her legs on either side of his head, grinning to himself. She was so light compared to Shrimp! Just barely, though. Barely!

* * *

"MOMMY!?" Lilia screamed, jumping down from Gajeel's shoulders. "Mommy where are you!?"

"I'm in here!" Levy called from their kitchen, voice resonating into Gajeel's ears and making the dragon purr his excitement.

"Shrimp! Ya wouldn't believe what the Peanut's learned to do!" he stepped inside of the kitchen doorway, lifting his head, "She- THE HELL ARE THOSE!?"

Levy giggled, pressing a hand to her mouth. Sitting on her chest were the largest, most plush, spongey pair of breasts he'd ever seen!

"MOMMY'S GOT BAZOOMBAS!" Lilia screamed, throwing her arms into the air to demonstrate.

"Lilia!" Levy was horrified; who taught her those kinds of words? "What do you think, Gajeel...? Gajeel!?"

"I'll catch daddy!" the baby reached her hands forward, but they just brushed against his shoulder as the dragon's back slammed hard into their nice, wooden floor. Unresponsive.

* * *

"Dadddyyyy? Daddy? DAAADDYYYY!"

When Gajeel opened his eyes, Peanut's face was less than an inch away from his. Her eyes were wide and inquisitive, wondering why daddy decided to take a nap standing up like that.

"Daddy!" she squeaked, throwing herself on his head and hugging it, "Daddy was really sleepy so he fell asleep and I tried to catch him!"

"... Where's yer mum," he grunted, pulling her off so he could breathe.

"I'm right here!" Levy leaned over, giggling and pulling Lilia in for a little hug, "You've been out for an hour or so!"

"What happened?" he sat up, rubbing the side of his head, "The last thing I remember is- THERE THEY ARE!" he pointed at her 'gifted' chest, shakily putting himself up.

"Oh, you mean THESE?" Levy waved herself back and forth, showing off her new chest.

"WHERE'D YA GET THEM!?" when Levy opened her mouth to talk, Gajeel slapped his palm over her lips and shook his head, "Nevermind, I DON'T WANNA KNOW! But ya better put'em back where ya found 'em!"

"You mean...?" she tilted her head to the side, "You mean you don't like them!?"

"OF COURSE NOT!" he shouted, grabbing her under her arms and lifting her to inspect them, "They ain't my Shrimp! Get'em off! OFF!" he started shaking her, expecting them to just slide right out and plop on the floor.

"But they are a part of me! PERMANENTLY!"

"Ahhhh..." Gajeel started wavering again, looking like another 'nap' was coming on. Before he could fully slip into unconsciousness, though, Levy started to laugh.

"G-... Gajeel! Hahah!" she giggled, setting herself down on the floor, "Gajeel! Please calm down!" with a little popping sound her chest shrunk back down and she looked normal again.

"... EH!?"

"Haha, I would never really do that!" she laughed, holding her stomach, "Mirajane taught me some transformation magic! I just wanted to see what you'd do!"

"YER A LITTLE BEASTLY WOMAN!"

"Awwh!" she ran forward and clung to his belly, stuffing her face into his chest, "Your reaction was so sweet! You DO like me just the way I am!"

"... I DO NOT!" he gave her a little shove, "Ya put'em right back on!"

"I know you're lying," she stood up on her toes and pecked his cheek, "So I'll forgive you."

"Look! Look, me too!" Lilia started hopping herself up and down in front of her parents. Sitting on her chest were two massive lumps with bits of toilet paper hanging out from under her shirt. "Like mommy!"

"HAHAHA!"

"GIHIHIHI!"

"Gihihihahahahaihihi!" Peanut giggled back, grabbing Gajeel's thigh and clinging tightly to him for a family group hug. "Why is everyone laughs?" Lilia asked afterward, wondering what was so funny.

"Just yer mum. She's funny-lookin'."

"No, I think your father is more silly-looking."

"Daddy looks silliest!" Lilia nuzzled his leg with her cheek, staring up at the both of them.

"Nah, you do," Gajeel lifted her by the back of her shirt, perching her up on his shoulder. "Let's go watch a movie or somethin'."

"Which one?" Levy pulled away to open the door for them while Gajeel's hand tickled her waist.

"Don't know; you pick something out and I'll be back in a little while."

"What...?" Levy blinked, "Where are you going?"

"Back to the guild," he cracked his knuckles, "Gonna show Demon Girl a thing or two about messin' with someone's wife!" and her cute little chest!


	13. Little Pugglies

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

**Four Years Old**

"This one! This one, daddy! This one! This one! This one!" Lilia wobbled back and forth, holding a little movie disc over her head and presenting it to her father so he could power it on for them. "This one! This one! I want this one, daddy! This one!"

"I heard ya the first time!" Gajeel reached down and pulled it out of her hands, rubbing his chin, "Ehh? Puggly Wuggly?"

"Puggly is my favorite!" she squeaked, running over to the couch and climbing up beside Levy.

"We haven't seen that one before, I'm sure it'll be good!" Levy smiled, helping Lilia up before the girl tumbled onto the floor.

"The he-... uhh... Where'd we get this one from?" he popped open the case, frowning. It was a baby movie!

"Lucy and Natsu gave it to us, remember?"

"Oh... right..." he stuffed the disc into the player and pressed the right buttons to turn it on.

Movie in place, Gajeel positioned himself on their sofa with his arms stretched out over the back, one lady on each side. Levy put the bowl of popcorn down on his lap so both she and Lilia could reach, although the latter didn't seem to interested in popcorn. She was rocking back and forth, lips pursed tightly together, eyes glued to the screen.

As the movie started to play, the dragon stretched his leg out onto the coffee table, reclining so Levy could set her head down on his shoulder. With her legs tucked under her, she was just the perfect size to fit in the space under his arm and against his side. Lilia was just the right side to curl up and use his thigh as a pillow – which she would by the end of the movie.

Gajeel ignored the incessant chomping on both sides – he'd gotten pretty good at not paying attention to the chewing of popcorn! Every once in a while Levy's hand would feed him a piece or two, and occasionally a tinier hand would reach up to pop a piece in his mouth; the latter was always sticky, wet, and more often than not there was already a chunk bitten off. But it was still good!

It was a very nice night, in all, until things took a turn for the worst.

"Gu-... guhuhu... HUHUUUU! BUAAAAAA!"

"Gajeel!? What's wrong!?" Levy asked, pausing the movie.

"PUGGLY WUGGLY BROKE HIS WRIST! How's he gonna enter that contest now!?"

"I-I know, daddy!" Lilia sobbed, hugging onto his chest, "He hurt his foot and now he will lose!"

"It's... it's just a movie!" Levy started to giggle.

"It ain't just a movie to Puggly!" Gajeel started shaking her shoulders, "Ya take that back and apologize!"

"SAY SORRY, MOMMY!" Lilia screeched, burying her little face in Gajeel's waist.

"I'm... I'm so- HEY! I'm not going to apologize for that!" Levy deadpanned, crossing her arms over her chest. Now they were just being silly!

"Mooommyyy!"

"Let's shut the movie off!" Gajeel fumbled with the instrument, "It's upsetting the Peanut!"

"IT'S UPSETTING ME!"

"But... but it has a happy ending!" Levy hung her head, hands bunched up at her sides, "It'll be okay," she grabbed at Lilia, patting her little head. "Really, just trust me?"

"IT'S UPSETTING ME!" Peanut squeaked again, sniffling and blowing her nose on Levy's shirt.

"Remember what I told you; that you had to go to bed RIGHT after we finished the movie. If we shut it off now then you have to go to bed, right?"

"But," yawn, "I'm not tired mommy..." she rubbed her little eyes, yawning again and snuggling up against daddy's thigh.

"Right," Levy smiled, "And I guess you're not tired, either?" she looked up at Gajeel whose head was back, eyes closed, drool already starting to leak out of the side of his mouth. "Oh, you two..."

* * *

"Ahhh!" Levy sat up in the early morning and stretched, immediately noticing that something was wrong. Gajeel's side of the bed was cold, when usually he got up just a little bit before her! After marriage and a baby, their sides had somewhat switched – now it was Gajeel who got up first, and she came up a little later; at least when she was there. She had no idea what his sleeping habits were when she was away on her missions. But his side of the bed was NEVER cold, how long had he been up?

"Hmmm..." she pulled herself out of bed and walked down the hall to peek in on Lilia... but her bed was empty, too! And it looked like it had barely been slept in! "Lilia? Gajeel?" she called, running down the stairs to their first floor, "Guys? Gu-... awwww..."

There they were, cute as pie, Gajeel stretched out on the sofa and Lilia curled up like a cat on his chest. The Puggly Wuggly menu was playing its tune for the hundredth time on the screen, and the player was burning hot from having been on – apparently – all night.

"... Awww..." Levy giggled and pulled the blanket from the back of the sofa, stretching it out on top of both of them. "I guess I'll just make breakfast, my little Puggly Wugglies."


	14. Tummy tackle

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"Ya okay back there, Shrimp?" Gajeel turned, holding the door open for his wobbling, waddling wife. He wished she'd let him help her a little bit, but she had already yelled at him twice. Maybe the third time was the charm! "C'mere," he stretched his hand out to take her waist.

Levy intercepted his hand with her mouth, chomping down on his fingers.

"G-GAHH!" Gajeel pulled his hand back, "YA LITTLE BEAST!"

"I'm pregnant, I'm not HELPLESS!" Levy insisted, even though she had a bit of a hard time walking through the door. Gajeel wouldn't tell her that he spent the entire morning widening it for her while Levy was out shopping with Lucy.

He didn't like that she insisted on these little shopping trips alone, but APPARENTLY he had bad taste and wasn't allowed to pick out anything more for the baby. This was after he'd artfully selected three tinsel-lined baby-bibs, a bright pink hat in the shape of a foot, and three solid metal baby suckers. He thought he'd done a good job buying gifts for his first little baby!

The doctor had yet to tell Levy that she wasn't allowed to walk, and as long as she had THAT freedom she insisted on being let alone at least once a week, to which he agreed as long as she was attended by at least three other guild members.

He didn't tell her that, sometimes, he stalked her. For protective purposes.

"What'd ya get this time?" Gajeel asked, puffing up her favorite chair. It was large, overstuffed, and completely dwarfed her body, but when she sank into it she felt relief and stress reduction every time!

"I got something for YOU, Gajeel!" Shrimp grinned, looking like a little devil.

"Eh!? Me!"

"That's right! It's in that bag," Levy plopped herself down and gestured to the purple one on the floor.

"What is it!?" he asked, grabbing the bag and tearing through it. "... EH!?" it looked like a big, pregnant belly! And it had STRAPS on it! "THE HELL IS THIS!?"

"Heehee, it's a pretend belly, Gajeel!" Levy asked, "I wanted you to know what it felt like to be pregnant. Put it on!"

"I AIN'T WEARIN' THIS!"

"Gajeel," Levy's eyes turned dark, "Put that on! Right now!"

"..."

"NOW!"

Pregnant women were terrifying! He took a cautious look around, closed all of the shades and curtains, then clumsily strapped it around himself.

"It's upside down!"

"THIS IS ALL YER GETTIN'!" he pointed an angry finger at her, but she just laughed. He looked absolutely ridiculous with a big baby belly strapped onto him like that! "Ehh, I did it, bu-"

"YOU CAN'T TAKE THAT OFF!" Levy insisted when he reached around to undo the straps. "I can't take this thing off, so YOU can't take that off, either!"

"How long do I hafta wear it!?"

"Hmmm... until I give birth!"

"EH!?"

"Haha! No," Levy smiled, struggling to get herself out of the chair, "You can wear itttt... until tomorrow. Okay? I'm going to take a nap now," she yawned into her hand, "Help me up the stairs?"

"Now ya want my help!?"

"Please...?"

"No!" he folded his arms, turning away from her. "Let me take this off!"

"I guess I can just... you know... go up the stairs myself..." Levy huffed, puffed, and grunted as she went up the first step, putting on a good show for him.

"Jeez, woman!" he scooped her up easily, even though it was awkward with his new 'belly,' "Yer so wobbly nowadays!"

"I know..." she smiled, tilting her head into his shoulder so he could put her to bed.

* * *

"M... mmhh..." Levy twitched in her sleep, slowly opening her eyes. The sun had changed so... she must have been asleep for a few hours... but she kept hearing bumps and crashes that woke her up...

With the help of a special iron walking stick that Gajeel made for her, she managed to pull herself up out of her bed and onto the floor, strolling across the room in her slippers and night dress. Yawning into her hand, she turned the corner and made her slow way down the stairs – it was easier to go down than it was to go up, after all. "Gajeel?" she asked, wondering what the commotion was, "Gajeel, I- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?"

"I'm ready, Gajeel," Lily – in his true form – nodded, wielding his fists and spreading his legs in a defensive stance.

"IRON DRAGON'S TUMMY-TACKLE!" Gajeel roared, ran forward, then thrust his baby belly into his cat, sending the latter reeling out the front door and into the courtyard beyond. "GIHIHHIHIH!"

"... G-... Ga-..."

"Eh? Oh! Shrimp!" he beamed, "This thing's great! I'm gonna bring it with me on all my missions!"

"TAKE IT OFF!"

"What!? I was just getting' used to it! Ya shoulda seen the one before, he went twice as far!"

"I SAID TAKE IT OFF!"


	15. A Home For Us - Part 1

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"What... is this...?" Levy looked around the expansive field of grass. It was a sizeable clearing surrounded by tall trees on three sides, like their own little peninsula of meadow. "I thought you said that you were taking us to a house...?"

It had been two weeks since Gajeel blew up their first house. It was really the baby who destroyed it, with her power gone awry in a little fit of anger, but Levy didn't feel right in casting the blame on an infant too small to even walk. The next logical thing was to blame her husband.

The couple had been living in the guild hall temporarily, free of charge as long as they didn't wreck anything. Levy begged Master for a place to stay and not to ask questions of them; he didn't ask questions because he was afraid of what the answer would be.

Gajeel came to her early that morning to tell her that he'd not only found a house, but he'd already BOUGHT the land!

… And this was it?

"I don't understand!" Levy pulled away from him, cradling the baby in her arms and frowning, "Gajeel, I thought there was supposed to be a house here!"

"There IS!" the dragon beamed, flexing his arm and giving his muscle a squeeze, "It's RIGHT here, Shrimp!"

"Huh?"

"We're gonna MAKE a house! Lily and I, and yeh can help too if ya want!" he beamed, thrusting his chest out, "But it's gonna be ours, and I'll make it with my own hands – with whatever ya want!" a totally custom house with as many rooms and as many floors as she wanted!

"... Oh... oh, Gajeel!" Levy squealed and ran into his chest, giving him a firm, one-armed hug while she held the baby with the other, "Gajeel, this is going to be so great! I... I... WAIT! I'LL BE RIGHT BACK!" she pushed Lilia against Gajeel's chest and sped off towards the town.

"... Eh!?" women – what was she doing NOW!?

* * *

"Ahh!" Levy ran back to their little clearing, cradling a bag of books in her arms. When she got there, Lily was the only one there, watching the baby play in the grass. "Lily? Where did Gajeel go?"

"He told me that he needed to go buy something, he left a while ago. He should be back soon," Lily lowered his finger for the baby to catch onto, trying to teach her how to walk.

"Oh..."

"I'M BACK!" an excited dragon barreled up behind Levy, wielding a bag from the baby store.

"... Oh, no, what is that!?" did he buy more things for the baby!? His taste was WRETCHED!

"Oh don't gimme that face!" he grabbed her nose between his fingers, "This time it's real good! Yer gonna love it!" he reached into the bag and pulled out a Jr. Tool Set, with a little plastic hammer, wrench, screwdriver and all sorts of odds and ends.

"H-... Haha! Ha, Gajeel! That's so wonderful!" Levy giggled, taking it from him.

"Where'd YOU go?"

"I went to get a BOOK!"

Of course she did... "Now? Right now!?" he wiped his face with his hands, "Ya had to go-"

"Don't start with me!" Levy opened the box of tools and set them down in front of the baby, one by one, "This one is REALLY important! You know that I can make Iron, but if I can make other things then we won't even have to buy any of the lumber ourselves, or other materials!" smart shopping!

"GIHIHI!" it was going to be a real, family project!

* * *

Levy shouted 'Solid Script: Wood!' a hundred times over, casting her magic so Lily could turn it into lumber with his sword. Gajeel took the lumber and set it in a frame, hammering it with his own iron nails and his iron fist, cutting back on the costs. As long as Levy's magic could hold out and Lily's sword was still sharp, they wouldn't need to spend a PENNY on the house! Well... except for things like paint, and the furniture that had effectively exploded in the last house.

"How're ya doin' over there, Peanut?" Gajeel asked, turning his head and offering Lilia a broad grin.

"SQQUUUMMPHEEE!" she shrieked, laughing and hammering away at the block of wood in front of her with her little plastic hammer. It was just a little block with dents in it but, damnit, it was the most beautiful block of wood that Gajeel ever saw!

"I agree with the baby!" Levy responded with a little puff, "I think we should take a break, we've been working for hours." She wiped her sweaty forehead with the back of her wrist, leaning on one of the magic wood piles she'd made.

"Hmmm..." The dragon inspected his work, running his fingers through his hair. That was a foundation done, and four frames all set in... that was enough work to take a break! Levy's magic was probably running out, and the baby was about to hammer herself right into a stupor. "Right," he grinned, scooping the baby up off of the ground, "Let's go get somethin' to eat."

"Gupoo!" even though Gajeel picked her up, Lilia liked that hammer much too much to put it down. The closest thing to her hand was Gajeel's head, so she'd just have to take a few whacks at that! "Gggffooo!" she squealed, reeling her head back and pounding into Gajeel's temple with her little red tool.

Daddy sprouted his Iron Dragon Scales and grinned, watching Lilia become amazed at the sound it made. That was a MUCH prettier sound than hitting wood! That metallic thumping!

"Gajeel," Levy giggled, holding onto his arm, "You shouldn't let the baby hit you like that, she's going to think it's okay to hit people!"

"Ehh, she'll stop when she's bored!" his eyes started to water when she gave him a real good bop on the nose, "... But maybe we can stop her now!"

"That's enough," Levy reached up to take the hammer, "No more for now, it's time to eat!"

"..."

"SHE'S GONNA BLOW!" the dragon held her at an arm's length, tilting his head back, "EVERYONE GET DOWN!"

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_eqqlo made a fanart of Laugh! It's the most adorable thing, haha! I linked to it in my profile for easy access, so look at what she made!_


	16. A Home For Us - Part 2

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"SHE'S GONNA BLOW!" the dragon held her at an arm's length, tilting his head back, "EVERYONE GET DOWN!"

"Gya!" Levy dropped herself down to the ground, hugging onto Gajeel's leg. Lily threw himself on top of Levy, bracing himself for the worst; after all, the last time this kind of thing happened, Lilia blew the entire house away!

"..."

…

"Gajeel?" Levy lifted her head up, "Is that it?" Nothing happened!

"... Hmmm..." Gajeel narrowed his eyes, bringing the baby closer and inspecting her closely. Her little face was twisted, one eye closed with the other open, lips puffed out just a little... "Oh... this is a different kind of explosion," he turned around and held her out for Lilia, "That's yer job!"

"You reach for that baby all day long," Levy pouted, taking her from his arms and lowering her down to the ground, "How come I only get her when she poops!?"

"Cus yer the mom!" he grinned, looking all too happy to dump a literal load on his wife's hands.

"That excuse is going to stop working some day," she started changing the baby, watching Gajeel turn his face away. She felt badly that his nose was more sensitive than hers... but it was still stinky for her!

"I'll keep usin' it until it runs out! Gihi! Now what're we eatin'?"

"Mirajane brought this over while you two were away," Lily opened up a basket, presumably filled with food, "It smells very good... and there is a pitcher of lemonade with ice in it."

"Lemonade!?" Levy smiled, replacing Lilia's little skirt and lifting her up, "Thank goodness, I think the heat is going to make me pass out!"

Lily started setting the food on the blanket that Gajeel placed down while Levy crawled over to set up the family pyramid: Levy sat on Gajeel's lap, while Lilia sat on Levy's lap, and the whole happy family cuddled and smiled and stuffed their faces with Mirajane's food.

* * *

"Om nom nom," Gajeel grunted, sliding his fingertips up Levy's waist, watching her squirm; she was ticklish there, he knew, and it was such a cute little squirm! "This is my favorite food," he parted his lips, closing them over his mouth and nipping at her lips.

"I know that," Levy whispered back, fisting her hand in his hair and wrapping her legs around his waist, "You tell me every night."

"Ghhmmm," shhh, silly woman! He tilted his head to the side, suckling on her lip, shoving his tongue in her mouth and tasting the lemonade flavor that still hung on the inside of her cheeks.

They didn't get many breaks like this – they tried not to rely on Lily for everything since it wasn't his job. As long as they were in a clearing, though, and the baby was preoccupied with hammering her little block of wood (which she'd found some time after their lunch), mommy and daddy could steal a few minutes to themselves!

"Right here?" Levy asked, tilting her neck and pointing to a little spot under her ear that she particularly liked.

"Yes ma'am," he purred, giving her ear a kiss before sliding his lips down the neck and licking that little spot under her ear. It earned him a shudder, rocking her body against him while she panted. "Ahhh, that's what I like!" he grinned, digging his fangs into her neck just enough for her to feel it.

"Ahh, Gajeel!" Levy gasped, digging her fingers into his back, "G-Gajeel!"

"Shrimp!" he mumbled, biting her neck again.

"Gajeel!"

"Shrimp!"

"... G-... GAJEEL!" she started pushing him, shrieking.

"Eh!?"

"Do you hear that!?"

"I don't hear anythin'!"

"... I KNOW!"

Both of them gasped, whirled around, and discovered that they were absent one baby.

"AH!"

"AH!"

"I KNOW!" Levy grabbed her hair, "MY BABY!"

"PEANUT!? WHERE ARE YA!?" of course she wasn't going to answer! She was just learning to walk; forget about speaking! He grabbed Levy by her waist and lifted her up, "LOOK AROUND, CAN YA SEE ANYTHING!?"

"OF COURSE NOT!" Gajeel was tall, but he wasn't tall enough to act as a sight tower! "Put me down, we need to SPLIT UP!"

The moment he set her down, they both sprinted off in separate directions, one faster than the other. Their baby... they were so stupid, where was their baby!?

* * *

"Sir?"

"GRAAHHH!"

"... Sir?" the magic council member stammered, looking up at the most terrifying, fierce man he had ever seen. Those fangs, those wild, red eyes...

"MY KID..."

"Y-... Your kid?"

"She's gone, and yer gonna help us find her!" the council had special police for this; missing children, defenseless little babies!

"Bu-... you have to wait 24 ho-"

"YER GONNA HELP US FIND HER."

"O-... Okay! What does she look like!?" the man squeaked, legs struggling – hanging three feet off of the ground.

"SHE'S GOT BLUE HAIR, SHE'S BEAUTIFUL, SHE'S THE CUTEST DAMN THING YA EVER SEEN AND SHE'S GOT A BANDANA RIGHT ON HER CUTE LITTLE BEAUTIFUL HEAD!"

"Okay... sir..."

He'd barely responded before Gajeel blasted off again, starting his search. In the past Gajeel would never ask anyone for help... but this wasn't about him and his silly pride anymore, this was about the fact that one of the two most important things in his life was gone.

* * *

"Hah, hah," the magic council member panted, slowly approaching the iron dragon slayer. Three hours... three hours of solid searching, scared out of his mind! "Mister Redfox?"

Gajeel turned, looking twice as wild as he had before, "What is it?"

"We found her! We found your daughter! But she... doesn't look so good..."

The dragon's eyes snapped open and grabbed the man by the scruff of his shirt, dragging him off and following his scared directions to where his little girl was waiting.


	17. A Home For Us - Part 3

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... I told you, I'm not his daughter! I'm his WIFE!" Levy puffed, crossing her arms over her chest and sniffling just a little, "Now let me go!"

"Well uh... his description..." the man looked completely embarrassed, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. He backed away slowly, shaking his head and laughing nervously, "Bu-... but I'm sure we'll find her!"

"Forget it," Gajeel growled, grabbing his wife and giving the man a forceful shove, "We're gonna do this ourselves, USELESS SHIT!"

Levy didn't bother to scold him for his rude tone; she was just as mad as he was, and just as scared! Where was Lilia?

* * *

"G-Gajeel," Levy started to hiccup, holding onto his wrist as they walked at a place twice as fast as she was used to, "I checked the old house and I checked all in the forests, and I looked in all of the dumpsters and alleyways, and I looked in gardens and turned every rock upside down but I can't find MY BABY!"

"I know," he narrowed his eyes, giving her shoulder a little squeeze, "Just keep lookin'." He was just as terrified as she even though he tried to keep it buried deep down. Two screaming parents wasn't going to solve anything; although he wished Levy would be the sensible one for a while so he could take his turn screaming and crying.

"What if we don't find her? What if she got hurt? What if she d-... dro-... drown-..." she started to hyperventilate, waving her hands in front of her chest and dropping to her knees.

"Calm down!" Gajeel frowned and grabbed her under her arms, staring her in the face with a firm, almost angry look, "Ya know what this is? It's a lesson. We're learnin' a lesson right now. If ya leave your kid alone for more than ten seconds yer gonna hafta expect that something goes wrong, and now ya know – we know – that ya shouldn't do that. It's a hard lesson, but it ain't one that I'm gonna give up on. It ain't done yet, stop actin' like it's over when it ain't. Sometimes ya just gotta keep going even if it seems like there ain't gonna be anything waitin' for you on the other end."

Levy sniffled, holding onto his wrists while her legs dangled back and forth in the air, "O-Okay..." she blinked the tears out of her eyes, "We're going to keep looking, right?"

"Of course!" he set her down, leaning his hand heavily on her head, "Yer a Redfox now, and that means that YA NEVER GIVE UP!"

* * *

"Oh my," Lily sighed, opening the little picnic basket and peeking inside, "Your parents are very worried about you. I should go and get them, I bet they are tearing up all of Magnolia..."

Lilia yawned, rubbing her eyes with those chubby little baby fingers. She rolled over, suckling her thumb and keeping warm in her little nap-time basket. After all, mommy and daddy were laying down and she wanted to take a nap, too! It was no wonder Gajeel couldn't smell her since she was bundled all up with the rest of the food.

* * *

"We are... horrible..." Levy dropped down to her knees, clasping her hands over her face and sobbing, "Our baby... we couldn't even take care of our little baby..."

Gajeel twitched a little, leaning down to pat Levy's head. His motivational speech earlier wasn't very long-lasted; it was hard to keep your spirits up when your little one was running around somewhere unattended. There was no telling where she'd gone and the fact that he still could not smell her was terrifying to him; what if there was nothing left to... to smell...?

He wished he could say something to make her feel better, but he was afraid that if he opened his mouth he'd start crying, too. That was out of the question since he was in public! So he kept his sunken, shaking stomach to himself and lowered his head down to give her a kiss on her temple. "Shrimp..."

"Oh, GAJEEL!" she shrieked, throwing her arms around his shoulders and sobbing into his neck, "What will we do!?"

"We're... gonna find'er..."

"It's okay, I've got her right here," Lily smiled, holding up the little basket. "I've been looking all over for you two, you move fast. But she's fine; she was sleeping in the picnic basket the whole time."

"LILIA!" Levy screamed, reaching into the basket and lifting her baby's tiny body up into her arms, "My baby!"

Gajeel grabbed his wife and hugged her against him, sandwiching the baby between the both of them. There were no words for what he felt! No way to describe what he felt! There was only... purring!

"Gajeel... you're purring," Levy whispered, rocking Lilia back and forth. She tilted her head up and kissed his jaw, keeping her face close to his.

"Mmmm," the dragon's hands found their way to Levy's waist, keeping her pressed close; thank goodness the baby was okay... but he wished they'd looked in the basket just a little sooner.

The baby, disturbed from her nap, stared up with wondering eyes at the two people shrieking and sobbing. She wasn't sure what was wrong, she'd just gone for a little nap and now they were clinging to her more tightly than she could ever remember... not that there was much too remember since she was just a year old.

"You're right," Levy cried happy tears now, wiping her eyes with his his shirt, "We did learn a lesson... I'm never going to leave her alone for more than a minute, ever again... we're not going to touch each other until we're sure that she'll be safe! No more kissing breaks!"

Okay... maybe it was a bittersweet ending.


	18. Winter Bandanas - Part 1

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

**Four Years Old**

"Daddy look! New bandanas! And they are for holidays! I want to have all of them!"

"Gihi, they'd look very beautiful on you, Peanut," Gajeel grinned, lifted her a little higher. She leaned forward and placed her little fingers on the glass, tilting her forehead against the window to get a closer look.

"Can we go in!?" she squeaked, smudging her fingerprints – both from that day, and the weeks before that. The store owner had long since stopped cleaning her window since she just smudged it every time she walked by!

"Hmmm..."

"Please, daddy!?"

"Well..." he'd just gotten back from a two week job. It was the longest job he'd taken since the Peanut was born, but since the holidays were coming he wanted to reel in some big rewards so he wouldn't have to leave for a while. That meant more money for cute things! "We can go in, but don't knock stuff off the shelves!" again.

"YAY DADDY!" she squealed, kicking her legs until he set her down. She jumped up into the door, turning the handle with her gloved fingers until it popped open and the bell chimed to alert the owner that someone was there.

"Is that Lilia?" a voice called in from the back, "I recognize the sound of that bell!" she always had a sort of energy when she threw his door open.

"Yes!" she smiled, skipping up and down the front display and admiring the bandanas from the inside.

"I see," a smiling old woman hobbled forward, balancing on a cane, "And I know that Mrs. Redfox is on a job right now so that must mean... hello, Mr. Redfox," she perched herself on her seat by the register, setting down her cane. "The new bandanas are in the back; the display doesn't have all of them, so she'll want to look back there."

"Ugh," he dragged his hands down his face; there were even MORE!? Oh well... "Peanut! Ya make sure to get somethin' for yer mum!" since it was the holidays.

"FOR MOMMY!" she chanted, disappearing down one of the dark aisles towards the new merchandise.

"Your family brings me a lot of business, Mr. Redfox," the woman smiled, "I'd like to give you something."

"Mhh?" he rubbed the side of his face, watching her lift something out from under the counter. The old woman held out a neatly wrapped package, "Remember, don't open it until the 30th!"

"Ahhh..." Gajeel reached for it, lifted it up to his ear and started shaking it.

"Honestly, I don't know who the child is here!"

"GIHI!" he grinned, tucking it under his arm, "Thank you, ya didn't have to give us anything, ya know."

"I know... but I've never seen anyone get so excited over my products as your wife and daughter."

"They're just crazy women," he smirked, ears flicking. Was that a crash? Damnit, she was always knocking things over...

Peanut skipped out a minute later with arms overflowing with little bandanas of every color. They fell onto the floor behind her one after another until she stood in front of him and raised her arms up to him, "Daddy you need to hold them!"

"ALL THOSE!?" he set the present down and reached for the bandanas, pulling them into his hands. "Well come on then, we gotta go clean yer room!"

"Not done!" she smiled, running away as soon as he had collected all of her bandanas.

NOT DONE!? How many more did she need!?

"Mr. Redfox, you can not win," the woman tried to console him, watching the poor man slump over on the floor. His arm looked like a sleeve of color, trying to organize them onto his arm so they wouldn't be in a pile of mess. "No matter what you do, your women will always be the most important things in your life." Meaning he had no control over the situation!

"I know," he tilted his head back, "I ain't gonna complain." Because he loved his little ladies.

When he opened his eyes again, Peanut was right in front of his face, dumping another pile onto his lap. It was almost as big as the other one! "Peanut!"

"Some for mommy!" she stepped back, letting him stand up and push the bandanas onto the counter.

"Okay... how much do we owe you for all this?"

"NO!"

"... Huh?" he turned, looking down at the Peanut who was screaming, tugging on his coat seam, "What is it?" he bent down to her face level, trying not to laugh at the serious expression she wore.

"Daddy," she whispered, getting real close, "I have to pay for them myself."

"Ya have money?"

"Yes," she nodded. "I have a life savings that I have been saving up for a very long time!" she reached into her shoe and pulled out two little silver coins, stretching her whole body to push them onto the counter top, "Is this enough?"

"... Yes, dear," the woman smiled, taking the little coins and setting them in the register, "Thank you very much."

"See, daddy!" Lilia puffed out her chest, strutting proudly out the front door.

Gajeel's bottom lip quivered, eyes watering up. She was just so cute! "S-... Send us the damn bill!"

"I'll take care of it, Mr. Redfox," the old woman smiled, "Thank you for brightening up an old woman's day." Reaching behind her counter, she plucked out a tissue and held it out for him to take and dry his eyes.

"T-... Thanks! BYE!" he sniffled, hauling out a massive bag of bandanas and a sopping wet tissue.

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_As you can probably tell, this chapter was TOTALLY inspired by eqqlo's Fanart of my story! Lord, Peanut was just so adorable that I had to write about that, haha! _

_For those who haven't seen it yet, I popped a link to it in my profile so you should look at it and tell her how amazing it is :3_

_ALSO: At this point I only have a few more written chapters... I am doing either one of two things; I'll either stop the story at 25, totally concluded and completed, or I can leave it open and add chapters whenever as opposed to every single day. But I can feel myself really slowing down and I'm not sure how much longer I can force myself to continue? I think I've run out of GaLeLia ideas ._


	19. Winter Bandanas - Part 2

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"I'm hoooome!" Levy sang, opening her front door and calling through her house, "Gajeel? Lilia?"

"Moommmyyy!" Lilia screamed, running down the stairs. Her hair bounced up and down, strewn out all over the place since she'd clearly done it herself with a bright purple bandana and little bows in the back. "Mommy!"

"You're still in your pajamas?" Levy giggled, throwing herself down onto the floor to collect the Peanut into her arms. "What were you doing!"

The baby yawned, rubbing her little eyes, "Sleeping with daddy!"

"Oh, is THAT what you were doing..." she'd have to have a talk with daddy; they were trying to ween Lilia off of sleeping with them. She couldn't do that forever and she had to get used to that now.

But try telling that to an cuddly, protective, loving daddy dragon!

"Did you guys have fun together?" Levy balanced Lilia on one of her hips, walking into her kitchen.

"Yes! We got lots of things and a present from the 'dana lady!"

"The bandana lady!?" Levy gasped with a bright smile, "What did she give you?"

"We don't know, we can't open it!" at least that's what daddy said. Lilia didn't see what the big deal was in opening something before a certain day...

"Ohh, I see," she set her baby down on the counter, starting to take off her jacket.

"Shrimp!" coming down the stairs in his sleeping pants, Gajeel purred and grabbed his snow-covered wife, spinning her in circles, "I missed ya!"

"It was only three days this time!" Levy laughed, clinging tightly to his shoulders. "But three days is still a long time, isn't it?" she could have been gone for longer, but it was the holidays and she wanted to be with her family!

It was a lot easier for she and Gajeel to go on long jobs now. In the beginning Lilia used to scream and cry, wondering why her mommy or daddy was leaving. Over time she realized that they weren't really leaving, and that they'd be back eventually – she didn't feel like she was being abandoned anymore.

"Daddy, maybe we can open the present now!"

"I said no!" he set his wife down, "It ain't the holiday yet!"

"Gajeel," Levy fingered his collar bone, "Maybe we can open it? You know, as a little preliminary thing!"

"Yeah, daddy, as a liminery!"

"Gihi! Well..."

Peanut knew that face. That was daddy's, 'Well, if it'll make you happy...' face. She jumped off of the counter and ran into the living room, grabbing the neat package from under the window and tearing through the package.

"What is it?" Levy asked, leaning over her, balancing against Gajeel's arms where he held her waist.

"MOMMY! DADDY!" Peanut screamed, holding open a nice little wooden box and opening it for them to see, "LOOK! IT'S BANDANAS!"

In fact, they were the most special bandanas in the world. They were black satin cloth, resilient and smooth. Each of them were embroidered, however, with their names. The largest bandana had a bright red 'Gajeel,' the medium-sized one had a bright orange 'Levy,' and the littlest one had a purple 'Lilia.' It was a matching family set!

"Those are so beautiful!" Levy gasped, dropping down and pulling out the little one to set it on Lilia's head. "Gajeel, put yours on!"

"If ya say so..." he tried to sound like he didn't want to do it, even though on the inside he was choking up; they were so cute, and his girls were going to look so cute! He tied his around his head, making sure to let his bangs hang down; Levy always told him he looked very 'arousing' like that. Whatever made the woman happy!

"This was so nice of Alice," Levy smiled, leaning against Gajeel, "We need to find some way to thank her for this, I know she had to have made these by hand."

"We will," her husband kissed the top of her head, stroking his hand up and down her back.

"Mommy!" Peanut gasped, hopping up and down in front of the window, "Mommy! Daddy, look! It's snowing! Snow is falling lots!"

"Oh, yes! It's been snowing for a little while," Levy giggled, "It started snowing when I got off of the train. You two would KNOW that if you weren't sleeping all day..."

"Ya don't get as beautiful as we are by not sleepin'!" he purred, waggling his 'suave' brows.

"Can we go outside!?" Peanut tripped all over herself to the front door, "I want to go play in the snow!"

Daddy stood up, lifting Shrimp with him back up to her feet. "Ya can't go outside like that! Yer little toes are gonna fall off!"

Lilia looked horrified at the prospect of her toes actually falling off...

"Don't scare her like that," Levy scolded, hitting him on the arm, "But daddy's right; you need to put on your boots and your coat, and your little ear muffs and your gloves an-"

* * *

"Mommy... I can't move!" the baby's voice was muffled, hidden behind two layers of her scarf wrapped around her head. "I can't move my arms!" they sort of just... hung in the air, flapping in the breeze every time she moved.

"Mommy can't help you, dear." It was a little hard to help her baby when she couldn't even help herself, arms bobbing up and down, almost blinded by the scarves and hats wrapped about her head. "Gajeel, let us take some layers off!"

"No!" he frowned, shutting their front door behind him, "Yer gonna freeze! I'm just tryin' to protect ya."

"I want to make a snow man!" Lilia started to run, waddling her teeny legs up and down since she couldn't even bend them. Her little boots went up to her knees and the three layers underneath them were too stiff for her to move.

"Gajeel, this is just silly..."

"Ya be quiet, woman! Yer gonna thank me when yer 50 and still have all yer toes!"

"But... Gajeel... if we play in the snow and I get cold, you know how I'm going to have to warm up later on..."

* * *

"This is so much better!" Levy stretched. It was a lot easier to move around now that she only had on one hat, and one scarf, and one jacket... and one pair of pants, and one pair of socks... All it took was a little convincing.

"Let's make a snowman, daddy!" Lilia laughed, running around properly now. She slipped and fell in the snow, but since it was fluffy and soft she thought it was fun; it wasn't very often that daddy let her fall down that much without fussing over her.

"Gajeel, you make the bottom and I'll do the middle – Lilia can do the head, okay?" Levy smiled, starting to pack snow.

"Why do I get stuck with the butt!?"

"Because you're the only one strong enough to push around alllll that snow!"

The dragon flexed his arms even though the muscles were hidden under his jacket, "Gihi! You know it, Shrimp!"

"D-... Daddy..." Lilia sniffled, wiping her eyes, "Daddy!"

"Eh? Eh!?" what was wrong! "What happened!" he dropped down, cupping her cheeks with his large hands.

When he got close enough, she raised her hands and smushed a snowball right in his face. "Gihiihihihih!"

"Haha, Gajeel!" Levy started laughing, falling to the ground, "She got you really good!"

"Ya ain't gonna get away with that!" Gajeel laughed, scooping her up and tossing her into a fluffy pile of snow.

"YAAHHH!"

"The hell are y-"

Levy shrieked a little battle cry and flew on top of his back, smashing his face down into the snow, "YEAHHH!" she cried, laughing and stuffing a snowball down his back.

"OOF, OOF! HOOOO!" Gajeel reeled up, running around with the Shrimp clinging to his back. He held his hand under her bottom with one arm and reached down his back with the other, trying to get the snow out.

"Haha! G-... Gajeel, look out for that-"

His foot caught onto an uprooted twig, flying headlong into a snow bank. His hands immediately reached for his Shrimp, curling her against his chest and cradling her in his arms until he landed, just several feet away from their compost pile.

"Ah, ahhh," his back cracked when he rose, grunting, "Ya okay, Shrimp?" she was awfully small... and felt even smaller, now, "Shrimp? SHRIMP!?" his eyes froze in horror, looking at the little bundle in his arms. It was limp, lifeless, and flat. He squished her! He... HE FLATTENED HIS WOMAN! "I'm so sorry," he sobbed, clinging to the flat bundle of clothes and rocking it back and forth, "I'm so so-sorry that I couldn't protect you!"

A blue little head popped out of the snow several feet away, covered in white, "G-Gajeel!" Levy's teeth chattered, crawling over to him on her hands and knees, "G-Give me my jacket back! And why are you holding it like that? And why are you crying!" he grabbed at her so hard when he fell that he just ripped her jacket right off!

Jacket? Eh!? "YER ALIVE! I mean... Oh... NOTHIN'! It was just a joke!" he whipped it around her back, snuggling her up tightly in it, "I knew it wasn't really you!"

"You're such a liar!"

"We should get back to the Peanut!"

"Don't avoid my questions!"

Gajeel grabbed her around the waist and lifted her high up onto his shoulder, trudging back through the snow, "I'll avoid whatever the hell I want! Don't ya remember what happened the LAST time we both left Peanut alone outside?"

The horrible memories of that day still haunted Levy in her sleep sometimes; sometimes she woke up sweating and panicking, falling into a pair of warm dragon arms to lull her back to sleep since that image of her little baby lost and alone terrified her.

This time, though, Peanut stayed just where she belonged. And she was hard at work.

"Mommy, daddy!" Peanut threw her hands up, giggling, "Look!" she gestured to her little snowman, all misshapen with buttons for eyes – torn off of her jacket – and a bandana on its head. "I let him borrow it!"

"That's beautiful, Lilia!" Levy smiled, peering down from her perch on her husband's shoulders.

"It's the greatest thing I've ever seen," Gajeel grinned, dropping down to a knee, "We gotta go inside now. Yer mum's cold." And besides, when Lilia went into the house to get her bandana, she neglected to shut the door.

"Okay, daddy!" she made grabby hands at him, waiting for him to take her by the arm and lift her up onto his other shoulder. One lady on either side of his head, he went back into his little home, with his little ladies, to make a little hot chocolate and experience some of that little old-fashioned cuddling. And maybe a little frisky later on.


	20. Shrimp, peanuts and beef

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"Lilia? Is that you?" Levy heard the door open and poked her head around the kitchen corner to see who came in.

"Hi, mommy!" the little girl waved, happily standing up on her toes to try and get taller.

"Did you have fun at the park? Where's Aunty Lucy?" Levy asked, walking out with a bowl of brownie mix, stirring it in smooth circles.

"Home!" Lilia smiled. Aunty Lucy dropped her off and said something about 'naughty time' with Unky Nasu. Whatever that meant.

"Shut the door, sweet pea. And help me bake these brownies!" She had to get back in the kitchen fast, since the only thing between Gajeel and those cookies was a smart spooning to the back of his hand.

"I have a friend though! I met him at the park!" the baby turned and waved outside the open door, "Come on, Beef!"

… Beef? That was an awfully strange name for a child.

A shy-looking little boy strolled in, rubbing his hands together and gauging his surroundings. He shuffled his feet a little, wavering back and forth like he wasn't quite sure whether he should be there or not.

"Hello there," Levy dropped down to her knees to get closer to him on his level, offering him a sweet smile. "I'm Lilia's mother. Did your mother say it was okay for you to be here?"

Beef nodded a little, still looking down at his toes.

"Okay... you let us know when you want to go home and we'll take you home, is that alright?"

Beef nodded again, seeming to be too shy to speak.

"Alright, dear... Gajeel, come here!" she had to introduce her husband before Beef accidentally ran into him; the poor boy would probably explode right out of his pants if he unknowingly crossed paths with someone like Gajeel.

"Mffwhat?"

"... YOU BETTER NOT BE EATING THAT BATTER!"

There was a quick shuffle, a few clinked glasses and a hasty tearing of paper towels. Levy sighed to herself, wondering whether he'd managed to eat the WHOLE bowl of batter this time, or if he was nice enough to leave some for the oven...

"What is it?" Gajeel wiped some chocolate from the corner of his mouth, walking out of the kitchen. "Eh? Oh!" he grinned, "Peanut made a friend!"

"We have a guest, and we're going to make him feel right at home, right?" Levy smiled up at her husband. Since he didn't seem to be angered, she supposed that his daddy instincts hadn't kicked in yet. Once Lilia turned into a proper young lady, though, she knew he'd turned into some massive Daddybeast around certain persons of the opposite sex; Lilia's opposite sex.

"Mommy, daddy," Lilia grabbed the boy's hand, presenting her friend like a brand new toy, "This is Beef!"

"Hello, Beef," Levy stomped hard on Gajeel's foot, trying to get him to stop chortling. The poor boy had such an unfortunate name!

"We're going to go play coloring ok mommy?"

"Okay, that's fine, dear!" Levy smiled, standing back up and arching backwards to avoid Gajeel's grabbing hands; although she wasn't too sure if he was grabbing at her, or at the brownie mix.

"Come on, Beef!" Lilia smiled and took off upstairs, excited to show her new friend her bedroom and all of her pretty, girly things. The only people she had to show off to were the guild members, and each of them had already been dragged up to her room a hundred times before.

"You feel free to go upstairs, Beef, and if you need anything we'll help you. Okay?" Levy hoped Lilia would do well with Beef, since she had a very strong personality. The guild was used to it, but as for other people...

"Um..." Beef whispered, looking down at his feet.

"What is it? Are you okay?" Leave it to the Redfox family to sicken a boy the moment he came into their house!

"Um... My name isn't Beef..."

".. EH!?" Gajeel and Levy turned white, glancing at each other, then back down at the boy.

"Yer name ain't beef!?" Gajeel crouched down, "Then why's the Peanut calling you that?"

"I don't know... she just calls me that..."

"W-... Well, what IS your name?" Levy asked, laughing nervously.

"Kazu..."

"O-Oh! Well, Kazu, you just... you make yourself at home, okay!?"

"Okay..." the boy hung his head and trailed after Lilia, following the sound of her voice singing upstairs.

In Kazu's absence, Levy turned on her husband and kicked his shin, "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"What're ya talkin' about, crazy woman!? And gimme that batter!"

"If you'd just start calling people by their real name, our daughter wouldn't be... RENAMING other people's children! She has her first friend in the world outside of the guild and she RENAMED HIM! After a FOOD!"

"GIHIHIH! GYAHA, HIHIHI!" Gajeel held his belly, the dragon turned bright red, collapsing back into the wall, "BEEF!"


	21. The Very Beginning - Part 1

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"Mmmm..." Shrimp rolled over, turning to face Gajeel in their bed. She smiled, tilted her head up and laid a little kiss on his jaw, watching his face form a broad smile in his sleep. He was such a beautiful, innocent-looking dragon when he slept... Totally different from when he was awake. "Gajeeelll..." her words sang into his ears, trying to coax him to wake up. "Gajjjjeeeelllll... it's time to get up..."

"Gmmph."

"Come on... if you don't wake up, the bacon is going to be alllll gone!"

"TIME TO GET UP," he grunted, grabbing his wife and stumbling off of the bed, "BACON'S GONNA BE GONE."

Levy started laughing, pulling him back towards the bed, "I'm sorry, Gajeel, there's no bacon! I just wanted you to wake up!"

"Yer so mean to me... ya know ya shouldn't do that to a man. Now yer gonna make bacon."

"Just stay here with me for a LITTLE while longer?" she asked, patting the warm spot on their bed, "Otherwise I'll get cold!"

"Well... we don't want that..." his teeth sparkled as he jumped, tackling her back into the center of their bed and making grabby-hands for everything that felt soft, spongey, or wife-like.

"Not NOW!" she giggled, squirming around underneath his hands, "Just lay down with me! A-OHH! OHH!" she squealed when he touched those special little ticklish spots.

"No bacon, and no rhompin'!?"

"Bacon and rhomping later, cuddling now!"

"..."

"I promise!"

At first he seemed not to believe her, narrowing his eyes and giving her a cautious, odd look. She better keep that promise... He begrudgingly rolled off, back onto his side of the bed and pulling her on top of him.

"Who's a good dragon!?"

"I told ya never say that again!" he grabbed her nose, wiggling her head from side to side.

"Awwh..." Levy slapped his hand away, hugging her head against his chest, "I sort of wish that we could have had a few more days on our honeymoon... it feels weird to be home..."

"I asked ya if ya wanted to stay, and ya said no!" she insisted on getting back to the guild, even when he gave her a million and one good reasons to stay for another week or so.

"Don't blame me, this isn't my fault!" even though it was. "I just wanted to come home... I don't feel right..."

"Eh?"

"Nothing, forget about it," she lifted her head and offered him a smile, "It's nothing. I think I just ate something really bad. I'm fine!"

"... Hmmm..." he studied her face, holding his hand on the back of her head, "Tell me if ya feel somethin' wrong."

"I will... I promise."

* * *

"Hurk... HUURAAAGGGH!" Levy's cries echoed out of the bathroom, hunched over on the floor. Something she ate, indeed! How much of it did she eat and when was this supposed to end!? "Gaj-... eel..." her eyes sunk, gripping the floor shakily. He wasn't even home... She sent him out grocery shopping, but she didn't expect to get sick! "G-... ajeel..." but it was hopeless, he was miles away by then.

"WHAT IS IT!? SHRIMP WHAT'S WRONG!?"

"H-... Huh!?" the sick woman turned to see her husband, sweating, panting and staring at her with wide eyes in the doorway. "Where di-... did you... when di-... urk! BBBURRAAAHHH!"

It didn't really matter where Gajeel was or how far away he was; he'd gotten the most terrible feeling in his chest and rushed home on the assumption that his instinct was, in that case, correct. And it seemed that it was!

"Sh-... Shrimp?" despite his sensitive nose, he dropped down to his knees and stroked her back, ears twitching every time she made a gagging sound.

"I – gack – I'm okay..." she gave him a shaky, unsure smile, leaning back into his belly when she felt her stomach settle back down. "Ah..." her eyes closed, ear turned against his chest so she could listen to his heart beating, "Now I'm tired..."

"... Okay," he frowned, patting her hair, "Take a nap." While he cleaned up the bathroom and, apparently, his wife.

* * *

Round number two of the grocery shopping went a little bit better. Gajeel paid the bill for the items he'd effectively destroyed – having taken the 'quick' way out of the market by running THROUGH the buildings and stalls, instead of around them. With his debts repaid and actual food in his arms, he pushed through the door of their apartment and set his purchases down on the table by the front window.

"Shrimp?" he called, listening closely for an answer, "Ya okay this time?" he'd been reluctant to go at first, wondering if she was going to get sick again.

This time instead of the hideous sounds of gagging, he heard a light sob and could smell the salty scent of tears that he recognized immediately as Levy's. "SHRIMP!?"

The dragon followed the sound of crying into his bathroom, where the Shrimp was on the floor, clutching something tightly against her chest.

"WHAT IS IT!?" he grabbed her and held her against his chest, rubbing his cheek against her hair, "The hell happened!? I'LL KILL THEM!" assuming it was the fault of another person!

"It's... Gajeel...!" she pulled her head away to look up at him, smiling just a little.

"Eh!?" why was she smiling? Was she crazy? She'd gone mad! Just like the rest of them Fairy Tail members! Was he next!?

"Gajeel, no," she pulled away from him, opening up her hands for him to see, "Look..." there was a tiny little chick, bright pink with happy, fluttering wings. It was smoky, moving like water in the air while it left Levy's hand and started flapping its wings around Levy's head. "Look! Don't you see!?"

"THE BASTARD!" a chick did this to her! He reeled his hand back, ready to smash it into oblivion!

"GAJEEL, NO!" Levy grabbed his wrist, pressing into him and laughing as she sobbed, "I took a test... if the test is positive then the water will turn into a bird, a living bird, and fly around and move and chirp and look happy... but if the test is negative then the water will just remain water. Don't you see?"

"Test? The hell test are ya talking about? When didja take a test? What'd ya pass?!"

"Gajeel... I'm PREGNANT!"

* * *

"Hit me again, Mirajane!" Lucy slammed her soda back down on the counter, watching the ice inside swirl around.

"You're only supposed to say that with alcohol, you know," Canna slurred, leaning back on the counter.

"But it's fun to say! And everyone else does it!"

"Everyone else drinks alcohol," the drunk woman noted with a grin. "O-... oy... my head..." she grabbed at her head, frowning, "I have a headache... it's like thunder!"

"No..." Mirajane, behind the counter, shook her head, "No, I hear thunder, too. Or at least... a loud sound..."

"Sounds sort of like a roar or something," Lucy slid off of the bar stool, taking a tentative look at the doors.

Just as she managed to catch her eyes on the entrance, the doors blasted open, leaving in its wake a roaring Iron Dragon Slayer and a tiny Solid Script Mage clinging to his back. "ROHHHHHHHH!"

"Levy!"

"Gajeel!"

"RRRAHHHH!" Gajeel roared, grabbing Levy into his hands and hoisting her like a trophy up above his head, "MY WOMANNN!"

That was crazy, even for a Fairy Tail member. For once Levy didn't even seem to be mad or embarrassed that Gajeel was making a scene! She was smiling, laughing, and crying for some unexplained reason.

"What's going on?" Lucy asked, not sure whether to panic or feel excited; the situation had an air of both. "Did... did something happen?"

The dragon, woman held high above his head, jumped up onto the counter and started waving his wife back and forth like a banner flag, "WE'RE GONNA HAVE A CUB!"

"A..." Lucy twitched a little. The wording was sudden, and awkward.

"DIDN'T YA HEAR ME!? A LITTLE DRAGON CUB! IT'S RIGHT IN THIS HERE WOMAN!" he bounced her up and down, being pointedly careful not to toss her right onto the floor.

"..."

"..."

"..."

For a few long minutes there was just silence. Gajeel kept screaming, Levy kept laughing, but the rest of the guild was – for the first time ever – entirely speechless. Cub? As in a baby? Levy and Gajeel?

All at once there was a sudden rush of air as every member in the guild jumped up into the air and started screaming. A new baby in Fairy Tail! That was fantastic! The last baby had been born while the Tenrou Island team was away... this was the first time that the whole guild could celebrate the birth of a new member!

The windows cracked with the sound of shrieking, the chairs and tables collapsed under their excitement, and the floor flooded with the booze and bodies slipping all around one another.

Gajeel, for the first (and possibly only) time in his life, was quite happy to be completely surrounded by people giving their congratulations and compliments while he stroked his wife's head like a kitten. Because, gihihi, he was gonna have a little cub!


	22. The Very Beginning - Part 2

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"That's it... that's it, Gajeel," her voice seemed to smile, coaxing him to continue. He had been embarrassed at first, but he needed to learn how to do it! "Mind the head," she touched the back of his hand, helping him hold on, "Be careful, babies can't hold up their own heads..."

Gajeel smiled down at the little thing in his arms, rocking it back and forth, "It's... ahh..." it felt strange to do this.

"You're going to learn how to do it really well... you don't have to be afraid..." Levy kissed his cheek, smiling. "Eventually you're going to know just how to do it."

"Gajeel, Levy," Lily tugged a pacifier out of his mouth, "I am more than happy to give you tips on raising a child, but please put me down."

"I'm sorry, Lily," Levy giggled, helping Gajeel set him down on the floor. "We're just... we're not sure what to do. And Gajeel is scared!"

"Don't ya go blamin' this on me!" he folded his arms over his chest, scoffing, "Besides, yer my cat and I can hold ya when I want!"

"They have special dolls for that if you want to get one," Lily smirked, "Do you want to play with dolls, Gajeel?"

"NO!"

"I didn't think so... now you two should both calm down. When you hold the baby, you'll know what to do. It's in Gajeel's nature to be protective and it's in Levy's instincts not to hurt the baby, so I'm confident that the two of you will do just fine." The cat had a way of making the two feel silly all the time with that silly... LOGIC thing!

They both supposed he was right, though, and sheepishly hung their heads.

"Ya know what we should practice...?"

"Yes... Gajeel?"

"PUNISHMENTS!" the dragon roared and grabbed a nearby chair, holding it over his head, "GET OVER HERE!"

Lily's eyes bugged out, dashing away. That stupid man!

"Don't ya run from yer father! I MADE YA!"

Lily was VERY over with this Make Believe game.

* * *

"We need this."

Levy stared at her husband, eyes wide, hands clenched together. He meant well, she knew, but Gajeel had an awfully warped sense of priorities, especially when it came to herself and, now, to their unborn baby. It wasn't his fault that he was ignorant as to how most people were raised, and it was endearing to see him trying so hard at being a good father, but he was getting to be a handful.

What on earth did they need with a Super Deluxe Baby Butt Pillow? "Gajeel..."

"WHAT IF THE THING FALLS DOWN!? We're sittin' down, right? And the kid's just walkin' by and it falls on its ass. What're ya gonna do when it starts screamin'!?"

"Well I think I'd pick i-"

"THAT'S RIGHT! Ya'd freak out! Now with this thing," he thrust the Deluxe Butt Pillow into her face, "The kid'll be fine and we can go ahead and keep on doin' what we were doin' before!"

"All of this is really cute and endearing," Levy took the item from his hands and set it down on the shelf, "But I think we need to be a little more realistic! I mean, neither of us know what to do yet but you can't solve problems before they happen... it's okay for babies to get hurt once in a while."

The look on her husband's face was a mixture between horrified and incredulous. Did the woman just imply that she wanted their kid to get hurt!?

He was probably taking this the wrong way; Levy could tell by the look on his face. She rubbed her forehead, pressing her face under her fingers and wondering what might be the best way to explain it. "Hmmm... Ah! I see, okay. These things... people have been raised without these things for generations, we don't need them, we need to raise this baby ourselves. Did Metallicana use these kinds of things...?"

"Of course not!"

"And do you like how you came out!"

"Of course I do!" he flexed as if to demonstrate how much of a wonderful beast he had become.

"So that means...?"

"HEY! What's that!? SHRIMP! Shrimp, look at this!" he whirled around, holding out a Turbo Lacrima Baby Cleaner, "WE GOTTA GET THIS!"

He wasn't listening to a thing she was saying! "... Okay, Gajeel. We definitely need that." It was no use arguing with him anymore. Maybe Lily could use it... or something; cats liked to be clean!

* * *

"We did good today!" Gajeel tilted his head back, balancing their many purchases in one arm and holding the other over Levy's shoulders, "Got lots of stuff the cub's gonna need!"

"And lots of things that it doesn't need," Levy mumbled to herself, sighing and leaning her head against his shoulder. "It's going to be really nice to have a baby around the house... those little feet running around..."

"We already got some'a those! But it'll be nice to have little DRAGON CUB feet runnin' around!"

Levy giggled, pressing a hand to her mouth. "You know, Lily is going to be really helpful to us... We just found out that we were pregnant a week ago, and he's already taught us so much. We're going to have to do something really nice for him. A- HIC!"

"..."

"No, Gajeel, PLEASE don't!"

"IT'S TIME!"

"Gajeel Redfox, it is NOT time!"

Ignoring his wife's pleas, he tossed the bags onto the ground, lifted his woman into the air by her hips, and charged towards the hospital, all the while screaming "IT'S TIME! IT'S TIME! THIS TIME IT'S REALLY TIME!"


	23. Kick

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"GAJEEL! GAJEEL! GAJEEEEEEEEEE-"

In his haste to get down the stairs, he knocked over two flower pots and an angry, black cat. The dragon, worried and disheveled with half of a shirt on, no pants and just one sock dangling halfway off of his foot, shook in the doorway of their kitchen area. "Hahh, hahh," he panted, chest heaving, "What is it!? WHAT HAPPENED!?"

"C-Come here!" Levy smiled, tears in her eyes, "You need to come and feel this!"

Something better be on fire, exploded or in serious danger! Interrupting a dragon while he was changing, like that. He dragged himself across the floor and reached for his wife's outstretched hands, letting her take them and lower them down onto her belly.

The bump was very noticeable by then – protruding out several inches. It made her look even more adorable, he thought, even though sometimes she worried that she looked unattractive. To him, she could not possibly be more beautiful!

"Shhhh!" Levy whispered, even though Gajeel was being completely silent. She pressed his hands into her stomach and bit her lips, looking tickle pink while she stared at his face, seeming to wait for something.

"..." he was suspicious, thinking she'd gone mad. Was he trying to tell him that she was pregnant? He already knew that! And another thing, i- kick! "...Eh...?"

"Did you feel that?" Levy squeaked, looking too excited for words, "Did you!?"

Kick!

"... Puuuruuuu," Gajeel dropped down to his knees, purring like an engine. He squeezed her around the middle and pressed his ear up against her belly, listening closely. The little creature inside madly kicked at his face like it was trying to burst out. "Prrruuuu!"

"Mmmm!" Levy slumped herself down to hold onto his head, hugging him tightly into her little kicking belly, "I can feel it from the inside!" she started crying, sniffling, "Gajeel, it's really real! And it's alive! And it's going to come out some day and it's going to run around this house and be a living little baby!"

Gajeel had stopped listening by that point; in fact, he didn't even know she was talking at all. He was listening closely, following the sounds and movements that their little unborn baby made. Kick... kick... kick...

* * *

Kick, kick, kick, kick, kick-

"DAAAAAAAAAAADDY?"

Kick, kick, kick

"DAAAADDY, wake up please!" Lilia shoved her toes in his face, wiggling them up into his nose and stretching his nostrils out. "Daddddyyyy!"

"Gruumphh," the dragon mumbled in his sleep, snorting to get whatever it was out of his nose. He slapped away her little feet and rolled over onto his stomach, pulling the covers up over his head.

"Daddy you have to WAKE UP!" she shrieked, bumping the heels of her feet against his head and hopping up and down on his back.

One of his eyes opened first, then the other, and the angry dragon grabbed his little Peanut from behind and hoisted her up over his head, giving her a stern daddy glare. "I used ta like it when ya kicked me in the face!" but that was four years ago, when she was still a little kick in her mother's womb, "But now ya shouldn't do it! What'd I tell ya about kickin' me!?"

Peanut pouted, bottom lip wavering, "B-But daddy!" she folded her arms over her chest, looking just like Levy did when she was displeased with her husband, "Wake up!"

"Ya could just say, 'Daddy, I want ya to wake up.'"

"I did!"

"Ya coulda gave me a nice good mornin' kiss!"

"I did!"

"Then ya coulda just given me a little shake and told me it was mornin'!"

"I DID, daddy!"

"... Oh." She made a convincing argument. If none of that other stuff worked, then maybe kicking was the best optio- HEY! Wait a minute! "I'm the dad!" he frowned, setting her down on his lap and tilting her face up to look at him, "Ya don't kick yer parents!"

"Mommy kicks daddy!"

"..." That was true.., but she never really meant it, and it never hurt. In fact, it was cute! But how was he supposed to tell her what the difference was? "Hah! Yer mum never kicks me in the face!"

"Oh..." she hung her head down, sniffling, "I'm sorry, daddy..."

"That's okay," he grinned like a proud daddy, setting her back on Levy's empty side of the bed. "Yer a good girl." Situation aside, he rolled back over and wrapped himself up in his warm blankets, closing his eyes.

"..."

Gajeel felt the bed shift a little as the little creature slid down towards his feet. She rolled around, positioning herself, and then-

"DADDY WAKE UP! WAKE UP NOW!" with her little heels she kicked at Gajeel's shins, "WAKE UPPPP!"

Mommy NEVER kicked daddy in the face! Just in the legs!

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_EMERGENCY SITUATION. This is my last chapter that I've written ahead of time and I don't know what to do for the next ones *shivers* _

_I DO have an idea for a third story, which would be a GaLeLia story that takes place during the age of 4, but it's a little... different than this one *taps fingers* More focused. I hope I don't disappoint anyone if I don't update tomorrow. _


	24. Birthday splash

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"Yer... my little Peanut," his voice wavered, sounding small, "And I love ya... and yer all grown up now, but..." he stopped, hesitating with a little breath, "But now yer gettin' to be big, and strong... and yer gonna take care of yerself some day..." he pressed his lips to her cheek, giving her a little peck, "But even so, I'm always gonna be there for ya... and I'm gonna protect ya, and give ya anything I can! Cus I love ya, Peanut!"

"G-... Gajeel," Levy sniffled, wiping her eyes, "That was so sweet... and if Lilia was old enough to understand what you just said, I'm sure she'd think it was sweet, too," she set down the cake she was holding and unwrapped a candle, setting a number '1' in the center of the dessert.

"Ya think she can't understand what I said!?" he walked behind Lilia and framed her face with his huge hands, "Yer lookin' at the smartest baby in the entire damn GUILD!"

"But there are only three babies!" Levy giggled, lighting a match and holding it up to the candle, "... But I can't deny, that she probably IS the smartest." After all, she had a WONDERFUL mother! Gihi!

"GUPOO!" the baby agreed, slamming her palms down on the table. She had no idea what was going on, but everyone seemed to be fussing over her and she _liked_ it. Plus, there was this sparkly thing on top of that round thing that looked like poop, and she LIKED sparkly things.

"Okay," Levy held up the chocolate cake, glistening with a candle on top of it, "We're going to sing Happy Birthday, and then we both have to blow out the candle, okay?"

"EH!?" Gajeel frowned, narrowing his eyes, "I know I ain't had many of my own birthdays, but isn't the birthday person supposed'ta blow out that fire?" Only since he and Levy had been married had anyone celebrated his birthday. Juvia would always wish him a Happy Birthday and give him presents in the past, but as for the proper 'works,' neither Gajeel nor Juvia had been too experienced.

"The baby doesn't know how to blow out fire... and she could hurt herself!"

"YA COULD LET HER TRY!"

"..."

"It's the kid's first birthday, ya aren't gonna let her miss out on the funnest part!"

Levy sighed, holding the cake a little closer to the baby, "We can all do it, okay?" she smiled. The baby wasn't going to blow on it, she knew, since Lilia had no idea what to do! But she could satisfy her husband's wishes!

"... One..." Levy started, smiling.

"THREE! HAAAAPPY BIRTHDAY-"

It was the most horribly pitched song, and the two of them were rather off since a particularly excited dragon skipped number 'two.' By the time he was finished, his wife was only halfway through... but they finished the song, Lily blew on a paper horn, and the baby's parents prepared to blow out the candle.

"GGUUU... POOOOO!" before either of them could react, the baby reeled back and sneezed, effectively blowing the fire right off of the candle and splattering the top of the cake with her baby... -ness.

"..."

"..."

"I'm still gonna eat that." Because it was chocolate. And his wife made it.

"Okay... dear..." Levy drooped her head down. All of that work on this cake! But she supposed it was Lilia's every right to sneeze on it, if that's what the birthday girl wanted.

* * *

"Well... it IS her first birthday..." Levy held the baby out at arm's length, trying to minimize the damage, "And... it IS a tradition of sorts..."

"Ehhh..."

"But she still needs to have a bath."

The baby was covered in chocolate from the top of her little head to her tiny, wiggling toes. She giggled and cooed, waving her arms and trying to grab onto Mommy. This was the most fun she'd EVER had! Not only did she get to have one of those big sugary things to herself, but she got to mash her face in it and throw it ALL around the kitchen!

"You have to bathe her," Levy held the baby out into her husband's arms, "I need to clean the kitchen."

"EH!? No, I'm gonna clean the kitchen!"

"I don't trust you! When you do the dishes you leave little bits of crusty food left over on it!"

"I ain't washed this thing before!" he'd watched Levy do it sometimes, but he'd never done it by himself!"

"Go take care of your daughter!" Levy folded her arms, "Besides, when I start going out on missions again, you're going to have to do it yourself, anyways. You need to learn now."

"Can I just get a hose an-"

"NO!"

"Now yer just bein' unreasonable..."

"GAJEEL!"

* * *

"Gmmmph," Lilia waved her arms about, splashing water up at the big man that loomed over her. He'd never done this before, it was always that tiny woman that put her in the big bowl of water! "Gmmmm!" she squeaked, opening up her toothless mouth in a little laugh.

"Yer gettin' me all wet!" Gajeel complained, even though it was too late by then. His hair, his clothes, soaked through his shoes all the way to his feet – the water was everywhere! "Ahhh..." he dragged his hands down his face, stretching his expression to show his fatigue. The little thing was all slippery and moving around, and she wanted to play more than she wanted to be clean!

"I guess yer done," he rubbed the back of his head, "Hmmm... the hell'd that towel go..." he turned around, rummaging through a mass of soaking towels, all having been used at some point to clean the floor from the water the baby splashed out, "Ehhh... all wet..."

Splash!

"Eh!?" when he turned back around, the baby flipped herself backwards with her little legs up over her head and her face almost clean under water. "SHIT!"

Hurriedly, his hands reached for the baby and lifted her out, collecting her up against his chest while he panted, stroking his fingers down her face and the back of her head to check for bumps, cuts, and _breathing_; since that was important.

"Ya... ya don't do that," he kissed, bumping his forehead down on hers and holding her little wet body in his arms. She wriggled and cooed, visibly fine, if not a little confused as to why the giant man was fussing over her again. "Yer only a year old... ya gotta grow up to he lots of years old, like yer dad, and yer mum," he breathed, "Okay?"

"... GUPOOOO!"

That was enough affirmation for him.


	25. ZOOOOOO!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"ZOOOOOOOOOOO!" Lilia threw her hands up into the air and screamed, running down the hallway from her bedroom and kicking open her parents' bedroom door with her little toes; not that there was much to kick, as it was already open. "ZOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Mmm... gmm..." the little bluenette wife rolled over, throwing an arm against her husband's back, "Mmm, Gajeel...?"

The whole bed shifted, nearing knocking the woman onto the floor as the large dragon tried to evade her arm.

"Gajeel... you promised..." she reminded, followed by a yawn and a little prodding.

Tiny fingers crept over the side of the bed, pulling up a body with them. The creature hobbled on top of the large mass that was her father, beating at his shoulders with her fists, "DADDY PROMISED!"

"You did," Levy confirmed, sitting up and fixing her hair, "You shouldn't promise things if you aren't going to follow through!" not that she had any indication that Gajeel wasn't going to take her to the zoo; he never broke his promises to the Peanut.

"DAAAAAAAD-"

A white, fluffy pillow caught her by the side of the head and she tumbled over into the center of the bed, giggling and struggling in the pillows, "Dadddyyy!"

"I'm getting' up," he grunted, grinning and throwing the pillow on top of her. For safe keeping, of course, "Ya just give me a minute, I'm getting' up!"

"WE DON'T HAVE A MINUTE!" she flung the pillow at him, although it somehow managed to spiral and fling backwards instead. "We have to go now or else the animals will be all gone!"

"Oh NO!" Levy gasped, holding her cheeks, "Gajeel, you better go quick!" she giggled, "Pick up Beef, and get to the zoo QUICKLY!"

Gajeel scoffed, pulling himself out of bed with the Peanut following after, shoving him towards his bathroom. "Ya don't gotta push! I'm gonna get ready!"

"QUIIIIICK!"

"Why aren't you comin', again?" the dragon asked, narrowing his eyes at his wife who did NOT have to spend the day with two screaming children; although he was only _pretending_ to be angry about it.

"Because I have to help Juvia and Gray," Levy tilted her head, "She's having trouble dealing with their little bundle-to-be."

"Oh..." he hoped everything was okay. They'd been waiting a long time to get pregnant! "But-"

"You're going to be fine!" Levy encouraged, "You take very good care of the Peanut, so taking care of one more kid won't be too hard!" Gajeel had never been alone with someone else's kid before!

"Mmmm..."

"What's wrong?"

"That kid's been coming over here a lot lately," he scratched the back of his neck, "Why?"

"Because he likes to play with Lilia!"

"... Yeah..." but it felt like something else was going on.

Levy hesitated a little, wringing her hands together, "Gajeel... just trust me. Everything's going to be okay."

"BUT-" that implied that things weren't okay!

"Just sit tight!" she winked, "It's okay!" if she said anything to him now, he'd just... rush to conclusions.

"... Right."

* * *

"WHAT'S THAT!?"

"Uhh..." he looked down at the map, "Looks like a bo-"

"WHAT'S THAT!?"

"That? It's uhh... Oh, it's one of those gira-"

"WHAT'S THAT, DADDY!?"

Gajeel tore the map to little bits and tossed them in a trash, resisting the urge to pull his hair out. Her enthusiasm was unmatched, her energy was undefeated and the look on her little face surpassed the world in sheer adorability. Since they'd walked through the zoo entrance two hours ago, the Peanut had yet to stop talking. 'What's that?' she'd ask, 'How do they work?' she'd inquire, 'Can I keep them?' she'd beg.

"You okay there, Beef?" Gajeel asked, folding his arms over his chest and giving a cursory glance down at the little boy.

Beef, the direct contrast to Lilia, spent most of the time to himself, standing several feet away from the others. He seemed to dislike the crowds, and the noise, and every once in a while he'd disappear only to pop out a few minutes later from some hiding spot. He was a pretty strange kid.

Every now and again, though, Lilia would take his hand and point out something exciting to him, and he'd get just a hint of life in his eyes – although whenever Gajeel noticed it, it vanished.

He felt just a little bad for the boy.

"Daddy?"

"Huh?" he realized immediately that he hadn't been paying attention, and looked down between his legs where the Peanut was trying to get his attention, tugging on his shirt. "What is it, Peanut?"

"Beef and I want to go feed the animals!" her finger pointed over to a little ring where other children were feeding goats and deer, "Okay?"

Beef didn't look as enthused as Lilia did, but maybe this would help to bring him out of his shell! "Gihi, okay!"

* * *

"Daddy?"

"... What."

"I don't think they liked you very much!" Lilia giggled, pressing a hand to her mouth; damn, she looked just like her mother!

"I know." He didn't know what it was, but animals just didn't like him! The minute he stepped into the corral he was headbumped, bitten, knocked about and thrown over the fence by a herd of angry mother deer. He wasn't a dangerous person!

… Anymore!

"... Sorry ya couldn't feed the deer, Peanut."

"It's okay, Daddy," she hugged him around the middle, pressing her cheeks into his belly, "Daddy is okay, so it is okay!"

Bless her little heart! His eyes welled up and he grabbed her, giving her a happy squeeze, "Y-... Yer too nice!"

"Daddy?"

"Y-Yeah!?"

"Beef and I are," yawn, "Sleepy..."

"Ya wanna go home?"

"Mhmm," she nodded, rubbing her eyes. "Daddy?"

"Eh?"

"Can Beef sleep over again?"

Again? He'd been sleeping over a lot... not that he minded, but it smelled strange. "I guess so, if it's okay with yer mum."

"Okay, Daddy!" she smiled, pulling back, "Let's go home, Beef!"

"Beef?" Gajeel looked behind him at the little boy, shuffling his feet. "Ya comin' home?"

"A-... ahh..."

"Gihi!" he grinned, "That's good enough fer me. Let's go!"

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_I'm setting up for something here *cough* _

_Still not ENTIRELY sure what I want to do about this story. I HAVE thought about having Lilia become older, but I think the tone of the story would change and I'd like to keep this one the way that it is right now. If I do Lilia as her older version (probably will?) then I'd stop this story, and make a sequel of the later years._

_Before that, though, I have to do that *other* story, the third part. It would be around the same time as this one but... sad. *cough* But it is a necessary step to take if I want to move onward! _


	26. Fairy Favoritism

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

**Four Years Old**

"Hmm hmmmm, hmhm!" Lilia hummed to herself, legs dangling off the side of her little bench. The chairs in the guild were much too high for her, so she looked even more adorable with her toes dangling a foot above the ground! Her fingers, wrapped tightly around a sandwich, sunk into her food and stuffed it into her mouth. Aunny Mijane was such a good cook!

"Lilia really likes to be in the guild," Mirajane giggled, leaning on the counter and folding her hands together, "She always looks so happy!"

"I know, she talks about it at home sometimes," Levy turned to look at her little thing, "She says that everyone here is her best friend!" Lilia had Beef for a friend, but she had spent her entire life with the people at the guild. They loved her, and she loved them equally even though she wasn't a 'true' member yet. She was too young to make her own decisions, but in time she'd most certainly get her official guild stamp and be recognized as a real member of Fairy Tail! For now she just settled for honorary member, which, in her little vocabulary, was even MORE wonderful than being a regular member.

"But... I wonder which one is her favorite," Mira's eyes lit up, looking a little devilish. She wanted to be the favorite!

Levy looked just a little horrified, "Mira, you can't ask the baby those things!" She probably didn't even know what the concept of 'favorite' was.

"HEYYY!" Mira waved her arm, catching Lilia's attention, "Lilia, come over here!"

"Mmm?" the little girl squeaked, immediately forgetting about her lunch and jumping off of the stool, "Aunny Mijane!" she giggled, "Here I am!"

"Hello, dear," Mira leaned over to get a good look at Lilia below the counter, "I have a question for you!"

"Hmmm!?"

"Which guild member is your VERY favorite!"

Her eyes seemed to get a little wider, twinkling and staring up at Mira. That was a very difficult question for someone as small as her, but... she knew JUST how to answer. Her feet turned and she ran through the crowds at the guild, stopping in front of Gajeel and wrapping her arms around his middle, "Daddy is my favorite..."

"G-... guu... GUHUHU!" Gajeel's eyes watered, giving her a hug back, "GUHU!" she was so beautiful! And so adorable! And what was more, HE WAS HER FAVORITE! "Th-That's right, Peanut!" he blubbered, trying not to actually cry in front of the guild, "Ya lo-lo-love yer dad!"

Lilia pulled back enough to give him a sweet smile, starting to move away from him. "And... and!" she ran back across the guild and threw her arms around her mother's legs, nuzzling her knees, "Mommy is my favorite!"

"Oh, dear," Levy giggled, patting her head, "That's so sweet!"

"And!" she ran to the side and grabbed onto Lucy, "Aunny Lucy is my favorite!"

"Well... that's..."

"And!" she turned around and grabbed Natsu's leg, "Unky Nasu is my favorite!"

"And!" she squeezed Gray's arm, "Unky Gay is my favorite!"

"And!" she grabbed Juvia's waist, "Aunny Uvia is my favorite!"

"And!-"

* * *

"And!" Lilia squealed and grabbed Makarov, hugging him tightly in her little arms, "Gampy Marov is my favorite!"

"It sort of... loses its value, doesn't it," Lucy twitched, looking deflated.

After hugging each and every person in the guild and proclaiming them as her favorite, the baby went back to her lunch, seemingly pleased. Now everyone in the guild knew just who was her favorite, and that she loved them all!

"The innocence of children is so inspiring," Macao smiled inwardly, "I remember when Romeo was that age, he loved everything. Even the things that he hated. It teaches you a lot about what it means to be a good person. They don't know things like hatred or dislike at that age, or at least they don't know how to describe it. Everything gets a second chance."

"But... I feel sort of bad for Gajeel," Mira sighed, resting her cheek on her fist.

The poor man had retreated to the back of the guild, head slumped down, body facing the wall, shoulders drooped, moping quietly to himself. HE was supposed to be the favorite! Stupid Salamander! Stupid Stripper, and Bunny Girl, and Demon Lady!

"Look at him, he's trying so hard," Levy shook her head, hands folded on her lap. She knew what Gajeel REALLY wanted to do was cry like a baby, but he'd never do something like that in front of the guild. Apparently moping was okay, though.

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_People are asking to see Lilia older :3 I am going to do that, but I'm still planning out some things. For now I will continue around this age until I can sort out my next few stories! But I feel as though this one is coming to a close soon..._


	27. Can't Let Go

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

**Four Years Old (Almost 5)**

"It's okay, we're very used to this," the kindly old woman smiled. "It's very difficult to leave at that age, but eventually they'll get used to the way that the class works, they'll get used to me being their teacher, they'll get used to the whole system. After all, children will need to be in school for a very long time! It's only natural for there to be a little panicking, a little crying, and clinging."

But still... this was a little much.

"GAJEEL, LET GO OF HER NOW!" Levy jumped on his back, beating his shoulders with her little fists.

"GUHUHU!" the large daddy dragon whined, shaking his head and clinging on tighter.

"Daddy, lemme go!" Peanut squeaked, shaking her leg and hobbling on her opposite foot. It was hard to move with daddy grabbing onto her little foot like that! "Dadddyyyy!"

"She has to go to school, no matter what! We TALKED about this!" at length, even. Levy spent the past week preparing him for it, getting him ready for the dreaded 'first day of school.'

It was hard to leave the Peanut like this. He left on jobs, sure, but he knew that his Peanut was safe at home with Mommy and Uncle Lily. But to leave his precious little thing in the hands of a person that he barely knew? With other children? What if they picked on her? What if they said mean things to the Peanut and made her cry? He'd kill them; he'd kill them ALL!

"Yer a horrible person, leavin' her all alone like this!" Gajeel roared, holding on tightly.

Levy's cheeks puffed out, horrified that the idea that she was a bad mother! It was a good thing that she knew he didn't mean it, otherwise she'd _really_ try to hurt him. "Let go of the baby!"

"LET GO OF... OF YERSELF!"

He was starting to do that thing that he did where he got so angry that he no longer made sense... She knew there was only one thing she could do to stop it!

* * *

_Later on..._

"Hm hm hmmmm!" Lilia sang to herself, coloring at a circular table with the rest of her friends. It had been a very exciting first day so far; she got to meet lots of new friends, and a new nice lady who she had to call 'teacher.' And in the morning, she got to spend lots of time with Daddy and watch him have a fight with Unky Nasu!

Since, in the end, the only way to get Gajeel away from the school was to have Natsu come over and – quite willingly and exuberantly – engage the other dragon in violent combat.

Yes, it was a fine morning indeed! She was doing something called 'craft time' now, which she always thought was just 'drawing.' Wasn't that exciting? She got the feeling, though, that there was a pair of eyes on her, watching her... Occasionally she lifted her head up and looked around, only to find that no one was around. Still, the pressing feeling was there!

He had to be stealthy. It was hard for a big man, but he was good at not being seen when he tried really, really hard. And he was trying his absolute best.

There she was! He could see her through the window, sitting at a table and drawing with her friends. Gajeel snorted, lifting his lip in disgust at all of those other children and... DAMNIT, DID SOMEONE JUST TAKE HER PENCIL!? She was using that pencil! It happened to be her FAVORITE color!

But... the Peanut didn't seem to mind it much... she looked to be okay with it. Maybe... maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have the Peanut in school. Maybe it wasn't so bad that she learn to play and laugh with other people, instead of just with daddy...

HAHA! What was he saying? That was ridiculous. The only thing anyone needed was a good, loving daddy!

* * *

_That night..._

"Did you have a good day at school?" Levy asked the baby, dishing out a bowl of homemade soup for her.

"Mommy it was so fun!" she squeaked, "I got to draw lots of things and there is a boy there who is very loud, and I told him that he had to be quiet!" she seemed proud so... Levy wouldn't say anything about that.

What the baby found worrisome, though, was that Daddy hadn't said much since she'd come home. He clung to her and pat her and kiss her, but he didn't want to speak!

"Gajeel, please say something," Levy sighed, pulling her chair in. "I think you're worrying the baby. And me. Going to school isn't bad, and you need to let her grow and live outside of this house. It's not good..."

"IT WORKED JUST FINE FOR ME!"

"Not always!" Levy gasped, clasping a hand over her mouth. There was a point when Gajeel wasn't 'just fine,' and he was a bad person... and what she said made his face flush, looking embarrassed and self-conscious. "Gajeel, I'm... I'm so sorry!"

"It's ok." He knew it was true...

"Did I do something bad...?" Lilia looked down at her feet, playing idly with her soup and splashing the table. This was about her, right?

"N-... No!" Levy shook her head, "You didn't do anything wrong, Sweet Pea. It's just... daddy is jealous of all of those other people who get to spend all day with you."

"But..." Lilia looked back up and offered Gajeel the most innocent, sweet smile, "But I love daddy, and he is my favorite to spend lots of days with!"

"G-... gu... guhu..." So beautiful! So adorable! So honest and innocent! An-

"And mommy is my favorite, and Unky Nasu is my favorite, and Aunny Mijane is my favorite, an-"

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_I can slooooowly feel myself getting tired of writing. BUT I STILL HAVE IDEAS! What will I do!? _

_To calm myself down I am going to take a mini hiatus. Just for a few days at the MOST (I hope) since I have a major portfolio presentation on Wednesday and it's messing with my mojo._

_To be more exact about where this is going, I AM going to have older Lilia scenes and take into account all of your suggestions, but I can not push forward UNTIL I do the third story. Something is going to happen in the third story that affects Lilia's later life, so I can't do anything until I do that :3 _

_Is it bad? Is it good? Ohhh, I have no idea... bwaha! _

_I'll try to write one more chapter for this one, and on that day I'll upload the third one – that way you don't have to keep checking back to see if I've uploaded it yet :3 Basically the way I did it with this story. _


	28. Holiday Fairies

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"GET UP! GET UUUUUUP!"

"Hoof!" Gajeel, who had already been pushed to the edge of the bed, felt himself thrust off and onto the floor. He groaned, laying his head down onto the cold wood, entirely resolved to sleep there if so necessary.

"No, daddy!" Peanut looked over the edge of the bed at his tired form, "You have to get UP! Mommy, too!" she turned and climbed onto Levy's back, using her as a trampoline, "GET UP! GET UP GET UP! It's the HOLIDAY!"

"Gajeel," Levy yawned, "The baby wants you..."

"NOOOO!" Lilia screamed, grabbing onto her hair and jumping off of the bed. She took herself down the stairs and into the living room, looking under the window. Her little eyes got wide, her mouth dropped open and she let out the most piercing, excited sort of scream!

Both of her parents were downstairs before either of them could realize that they were even out of bed. They wavered tiredly, clinging to each other; what happened!? Why was the Peanut screaming!

But it was the most wonderful thing. All month Mommy and Daddy had been buying presents, wrapping them and putting them under the window for the Holiday. And today... there were TWICE as much, in a neat pile, wrapped, all with PEANUT'S NAME ON THEM! So many presents!

"MOMMY, DADDY!" Peanut jumped up and down, "Look! Look, the Holiday Fairy brought me lots of nice things!" she stomped her feet against the floor, bobbing over to the mass of presents and taking a flying leap at them.

The daddy dragon caught her in mid air, silently begging her not to crush her gifts. There were valuable things in there! "Peanut," he yawned, hugging her against his chest, "Ya gotta stop screamin'."

"BUT I D-"

"Gmmmm," he narrowed his eyes, growling low in his throat. Hugged up against his chest, the Peanut could definitely feel his growl vibrating against her and she knew that she was being a bad little Peanut.

"Okay," she hung her head in defeat, letting Daddy set her back down on the floor. "But when do we get to open them!"

"Right after Mommy makes some hot cocoa, okay?"

"OKAY!" hot cocoa was ALMOST as good as getting tons of presents on the Holiday!

Gajeel wasn't sure what he liked better... This year when the Peanut was loud, screaming, and entirely excited about her presents for the Holiday, or last year when she was still too young to even realize what the Holiday was. Nah, he liked this better; he couldn't wait to see her face when she saw his present to her!

"There," Levy set down three mugs of varying size on the table, one large and steaming for Daddy, one medium and hot for herself, and a smaller one with an ice cube in it for Peanut – so she wouldn't burn herself.

"I want to open them! I wanna open them!" Peanut hopped up and down, pointing at the pile.

"Mmmm... open this one first," Gajeel reached to the top of the pile of presents that 'they' bought (as opposed to the Holiday Fairy) and handed it to the Peanut.

"W-Whoooaaa..." the package was small, but it was VERY heavy! What could be inside? She set it down on the floor and tore through the package, slowly revealing something very shiny, and very- … very...

"Peanut?" Levy asked, bending down to look at her face.

Peanut had little tears in her eyes, sniffling and lifting up the present from the wrapper. It was made of high-polished iron, a chiseled figurine of herself, smiling and sitting on a pile of bandanas. It was beautiful! "Gm- gmmph!" she sniffled, stomping her feet on the floor and hugging her little present to her chest. She didn't quite know how to express what she was feeling, because the little thing had never felt like that before!

That was enough for Gajeel, though. He burst into tears and grabbed the Peanut, crying together as one hugged the other and the other hugged the little statue.

Then, of course, Mommy started to cry, wiping furiously at her eyes and leaning herself on Gajeel. It was a beautiful figurine and she had no idea how Gajeel managed to get it done, but she knew that it had to be his own iron – it was such a thoughtful gift!

"D-Daddy!" Peanut sniffled, holding the figurine away to examine it.

"Y-Yeah, Peanut!?"

"... CAN I OPEN THE REST OF MY GIFTS!?"

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_This will be one of the last chapters I write for this story! I am going to focus on writing Cry now, and after that I'll write the fourth story – aka the story in which Lilia appears older. Not sure if I WILL add anything to this story, but I'll leave it as-is until I decide. _

_**For this of you who have not seen, I HAVE released the first chapter of my third story. It is titled Cry, and you can find it in my profile! **  
_


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